Newsom plans to transform San Quentin State Prison. Lawmakers and the public have had little input
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning to spend $360 million demolishing a sprawling former furniture factory at San Quentin State Prison and replacing it with something reminiscent of a college campus
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ambitious and expensive plans for a dilapidated factory at San Quentin State Prison where inmates of one of the nation’s most notorious lockups once built furniture, and lawmakers have given him the greenlight to start with little input or oversight.
He wants to spend $360 million demolishing the building and replacing it with one more reminiscent of a college campus, with a student union, classrooms and possibly a coffee shop. It’s part of his desire to make San Quentin, once home to the nation’s largest death row and where the state performed executions, a model for preparing people for life on the outside — a shift from the state’s decades-long focus on punishment.
And Newsom wants it all to happen by December 2025, just before he leaves office.
A 21-member advisory council Newsom selected to help shape the new facility’s design and programming does not have to follow open meetings laws, while the Legislature traded away seats on the council and formal oversight during budget negotiations.
That’s a concern for supporters and critics of prison reform. Republican lawmakers say the Legislature needs more of a say in the process, especially when the state faces a nearly $32 billion budget deficit. Criminal justice advocates say reforming San Quentin is a distraction from the real goal of closing more prisons.
“Spending hundreds of millions on new prison infrastructure is a step in the wrong direction,” said Brian Kaneda of CURB, a criminal justice reform coalition.
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