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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s planned transformation of San Quentin State Prison into a rehabilitation facility after decades as the home for death row inmates is being shaped by a hand-picked advisory council that is allowed to meet in secret. State lawmakers initially balked at Newsom’s $360 million plan to tear down an old furniture factory on the prison grounds and replace it with a building more reminiscent of a college campus, with a student union, classrooms and possibly a coffee shop. But they eventually greenlit the project during state budget negotiations, trading away transparency provisions and a formal oversight role...

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - The infamous state prison on San Francisco Bay that has been home to the largest death row population in the United States will be transformed into a lockup where less-dangerous prisoners will receive education, training and rehabilitation under a new plan from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Democratic governor will discuss his proposed transformation of San Quentin State Prison during a visit on Friday. 2 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024CompareCredit.com| Sponsored The facility will be renamed the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and the inmates serving prison sentences there will be moved elsewhere in the California...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Jonathan Peter Jackson, a direct relative of two prominent members of the Black Panther Party, revolutionary thought and family history have always been intertwined, particularly in August. That’s the month in 1971 when his uncle, the famed Panther George Jackson, was killed during an uprising at San Quentin State Prison in California. A revolutionary whose words resonated inside and out of the prison walls, he was a published author, activist and radical thought leader. To many, February is the month dedicated to celebrating Black Americans’ contributions to a country where they were once enslaved. But Black...

Shortly before Thanksgiving 1919, as Antone Lepara was waiting to be hanged for murder, his soon-to-be widow received an unusual request. The letter asked Mrs. Lepara if she would be willing to sell her husband’s testicles after his death. The writer, a wealthy businessman, was willing to pay $10,000 — almost $150,000 in today’s money. It was a good arrangement all-around for the businessman. He’d have a new, virile pair of testes from a man no longer in need of them, and one of America’s foremost experts on gland surgery worked right on the prison premises: San Quentin Chief Surgeon...

A gang member and double murderer convicted in the shooting and killing of two teenagers at a party in Los Angeles more than thirty years ago is set to be released from San Quentin on Monday. Howard Elwin Jones has been imprisoned at San Quentin state prison since 1991 for the December 1988 shooting and killing of 18-year-old Chris Baker and another boy at a party in Rowland Heights. Jones was denied parole in 2015 and 2017 but at his third parole hearing in February, he was found to be suitable for parole by the state at a hearing that...

On Sept. 16, 1969, Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" hit No. 1 on the country charts. By all accounts, the song is one of Cash's most iconic recordings. To this day, "A Boy Named Sue" permeates pop culture. Even if some folks don't realize where it came from. For the most part, the song was never meant for a widespread audience. That's probably because it deals with its main character trying to kill his father. But when Johnny Cash first performed the song live, he figured that kind of thing might resonate with his audience. Because the first time...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A state appeals court ordered San Quentin State Prison on Tuesday to immediately cut its inmate population by half, which would require transferring or releasing about 1,700 inmates, citing the state’s inability to manage a deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the prison. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and San Quentin Prison Acting Warden Ron Broomfield “have acted with deliberate indifference and relief is warranted,” the court opinion stated. The ruling stemmed from a case involving 64-year-old Ivan Von Staich, who along with...

Two San Quentin Prison death row inmates died Friday from what appear to be complications related to the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. There have been at least three death row inmates at the prison who have died of the virus since June 24. Scott Thomas Erskine, 57, had been on California's death row since 2004, and Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, had been on death row since 1989, both died on July 3, 2020, at outside hospitals. A third death row inmate at San Quentin, Richard Stitely, 71, died June 24...

With about a third of San Quentin’s inmates now infected with the coronavirus after a transfer of prisoners from a Southern California correctional facility overrun by the illness, Marin County officials revealed Monday that a death row inmate found dead last week in his cell tested positive for COVID-19. 1,059 inmates and 102 correctional and medical staff have tested positive for the virus. On Monday, 22 inmates were being treated at the county’s hospitals, officials said.

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is planning to visit San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco on Saturday to meet with inmates and have them lead him on a tour of the facility — a rare peek behind bars for a White House hopeful. The former Texas congressman will spend part of his time with inmates who are close to finishing their sentences, discussing ways to improve the “re-entry” process into society and to combat recidivism. He will also conduct an interview with “Ear Hustle,” a podcast produced by inmates inside the all-male prison that is California’s...

Miguel Angel Magallon, who was convicted of killing Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety Capt. Michael Sparkes in 2004, was found unresponsive in his cell at 6:17 a.m. Saturday and was pronounced dead at 6:49 a.m., Lt. Sam Robinson said. Magallon, 35, was sentenced to death on Oct. 15, 2009, and had been on death row since Oct. 26, 2009. An autopsy will be conducted to determine his cause of death. Since 1978, 79 condemned inmates have died from natural causes, 26 have committed suicide, 13 were executed in California and 11 have died of other causes. *** Last...

PASO ROBLES, Calif. (KCRA) — A man who escaped from a Bay Area prison was arrested Saturday at a Taco Bell in Paso Robles, officials said. Shalom Mendoza, 21, walked away from San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday night, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "He was assigned to work outside the secured perimeter of the prison, as some inmates are, and he took advantage of an opportunity to leave," the corrections department said in a news release. After he escaped, Mendoza carjacked a person and stole their Toyota RAV4, according to Justin Graham with the San...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A former state senator convicted of lying about his residence and three refugees from Vietnam who could face deportation are among 38 people pardoned Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Brown’s pardons also include a man who just lost his Paradise home in a wildfire. The Democratic governor also commuted the sentences of 70 people still serving time, including Walter “Earlonne” Woods, who co-hosts a podcast called “Ear Hustle” from inside San Quinton state prison. Former Sen. Roderick Wright was convicted of felony charges of voter fraud and perjury in 2014 when a...

uthorities said Monday they are investigating the deaths of two inmates awaiting execution at San Quentin Prison. Prison staff found one inmate, 54-year-old Andrew Urdiales, unresponsive during a security check on Friday at 11:15 p.m., according to a prison statement. Urdiales was pronounced dead at 12:01 am. Saturday. A day later, at 10:15 p.m. Sunday, prison staff found a second condemned inmate, Virendra Govin, 51, unresponsive in his cell, the statement said. Officials said Govin received CPR, but he was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Both men were in cells by themselves and were on death row for multiple murders....

The spying by the Obama administration on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump reportedly was even worse than what he has alleged. And it had nothing to do with Russia but everything to do with politics. Sources in the intelligence community claim the potentially illegal revealing of names, or unmasking, of people in the Trump camp who were under surveillance was done purely “for political purposes” to “hurt and embarrass (candidate) Trump and his team.” The bombshell revelations come from rank and file members of the intelligence community who are fighting back against a stonewall by the leaders at the nation’s spy...

Death row inmate Fernando Eros Caro died at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday, prison officials said. Caro, 67, was sentenced to death in Santa Clara County Superior Court. He was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m. Saturday, Lt. Sam Robinson said. The cause of death is pending an autopsy. Caro was sentenced to death for the murders of Jack Lucchesi, Mark Hatcher and Mary Helen Booher and the attempted murder of Rick Donner on Aug. 20, 1980, Robinson said.

"Economically, he is going to do for the country what has not been done in modern history." — The "Oracle of San Quentin"“Welcome to prison.” Rahsaan Thomas greets me with a firm handshake and a big grin inside the Catholic chapel at San Quentin. It's job fair day at the prison in December, and things are busier than usual. Thirty seven inmates, including Thomas, are interviewing with 33 potential employers from around the Bay Area. They are hopeful. In the bright scenario that they make it out of prison, they could get hired by the owners of yoga studios, dog...

Two convicted killers were charged with murder Tuesday in the August slaying of a notorious California inmate, just days after he was released into the general prison population. The Sacramento County district attorney’s office charged the pair with killing 71-year-old Hugo Pinell at a maximum security prison east of Sacramento.

The Scientist Who Wanted To Bring A Death Row Inmate Back From The Dead Dr. Robert E. Cornish is probably best known for his 1930s revivification experiments with dogs, in which he claimed to bring dogs back from clinical death. He wanted to try a similar procedure on humans — and when a death row inmate volunteered, Cornish petitioned the state of California to let him play re-animator. Cornish's dog experiments would make most dog lovers cringe. Cornish would suffocate the dogs until they were clinically dead, and then he would place the bodies on a teeter board, rocking the...

SAN FRANCISCO — J.C.X. Simon—one of the so-called "Zebra Killers" convicted of multiple murders of white San Franciscans in the 1970s—has died, prison officials said Friday. Simon, 69, was pronounced dead at San Quentin prison at 11:59 p.m. Thursday after being found unresponsive in his cell, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said. The cause of death is unknown pending the results of an autopsy.