Posted on 08/31/2023 5:32:24 PM PDT by lowbridge
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 for themselves in the process.
The Democratic governor wants to remake San Quentin, where the state performed executions, into a model for preparing people for life on the outside — a shift from the state’s decades-long focus on punishment.
And he wants it all complete by December 2025, just before he leaves office.
The 21-member advisory council Newsom selected began meeting in June to discuss the new facility’s design and programming. A requirement that it follow open meetings law was removed during budget negotiations, meaning the group’s discussions are behind closed doors.
After inquiries from The Associated Press, the governor’s office said it will release the advisory council’s report to the public before Newsom presents his next budget to lawmakers in January.
“Since the very beginning of this process, the administration has engaged a diverse set of stakeholders and committed to transparently making the Advisory Council’s recommendations public. Our partners in the Legislature — along with stakeholders including victims, incarcerated individuals and their families, (The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) staff, and program providers — are the linchpin to San Quentin’s success,” Izzy Gardon, deputy director of communications for Newsom, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
New drapes in the violent ward?
They should put the homeless on Alcatraz
Is he trying to make his future cell look nice?
I like San Quentin the way it was, when I was there. 👍😆😂
They can do what they want, your not in the club.
I was looking forward to the reunion.
It would be my first, since 1965, when I escaped to (place unknown) and have had a good life considering that I was an axe murderer. Married and had a few kids who are sworn to secrecy about their good ole’ dad.
Newsome, not to be mistaken with wholesome, is more like tiresome and disfigured chromosome. He’s a twit. Forget any chance at “POTUS!”
SQ Alumni ‘65.
Don’t need the gas chamber any more. Even here in CA, in 2016 53.1% of the voters voted to keep, and expedite, the death penalty. Newsom announced he doesn’t like the death penalty, and will not carry out the will of the voters.
“ And he wants it all complete by December 2025..”
In California? It may be done by 2057 and it will be 300,000% over budget.
L
I was only there from 88 to 90, then I spent the next 23 years in Vacaville.
Good place to keep “assylum refugees.”
That way, Alcatraz could be the first stop on Joe Biden's Trans-Pacific Railroad route.
Californicate considers inmates stakeholders ?!
Absofrkn hilarious !!
Actually Gruesome wants to turn it into an amusement part. This is just phase I.
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