6 VERY RARE ORIGINAL 4X5 INCH NEGATIVES FEATURING SAN QUENTIN PRISON IN 1947. YOU CAN SEE THE TOWERR, HIGHWAY PATROL, GUARDS AND LOCAL POLICE IN FRONT OF SAN QUENTIN. THE PHOTOGRASPHER IS DOHERTY. San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the oldest prison in California. San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin (called “The Arena” by prisoners) is the oldest prison in California. The state’s only death row for male inmates, the largest in the United States, is located at the prison. [2][3] It has a gas chamber, but since 1996, executions at the prison have been carried out by lethal injection, though the prison has not performed an execution since 2006. [4] The prison has been featured on film, radio drama, video, podcast, and television; is the subject of many books; has hosted concerts; and has housed many notorious inmates. Concerts and music videos. Fiction, literature and publications. San Quentin State Prison. Aerial view of San Quentin, including the housing units, yard, education center, and Prison Industry Authority facilities. San Quentin’s East Gate, the primary entrance for visitors and volunteers. The correctional complex sits on Point San Quentin, which consists of 432 acres (1.75 km2) on the north side of San Francisco Bay. As of April 30, 2020, San Quentin was incarcerating people at 122.5% of its design capacity, with 3,776 occupants. Men condemned to death in California (with some exceptions) must be held at San Quentin, while condemned women are held at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. [10] As of December 2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or death row. “[11] As of 2001, San Quentin’s death row was described as “the largest in the Western Hemisphere”;[12] as of 2005, it was called “the most populous execution antechamber in the United States. [3] The states of Florida and Texas had fewer death row inmates in 2008 (397 and 451 respectively) than San Quentin. The death row at San Quentin is divided into three sections: the quiet “North-Segregation” or “North-Seg, ” built in 1934, for prisoners who “don’t cause trouble”; the “East Block, ” a “crumbling, leaky maze of a place built in 1927″; and the “Adjustment Center” for the worst of the worst. [3] Most of the prison’s death row inmates reside in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prison’s first death row facility, but additional death row space opened after executions resumed in the U. The adjustment center received solid doors, preventing “gunning-down” or attacking persons with bodily waste. As of 2016 it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates. [14] A dedicated psychiatric facility serves the prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosts religious services. Many prison programs available for most inmates are unavailable for death row inmates. [15] The state had planned to build a new death row facility, but Governor Jerry Brown canceled those plans in 2011. [16] In 2015 Brown asked the Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current death row facilities were becoming filled. At the time the non-death row prison population was decreasing, opening room for death row inmates. As of 2015 the San Quentin death row has a capacity of 715 prisoners. Lethal injection room in San Quentin. All executions in California (male and female) take place at San Quentin. [10] The execution chamber is located in a one-story addition close to the East Block. [14] Women executed in California are transported to San Quentin by bus before being put to death. The methods for execution at San Quentin have changed over time. Prior to 1893, the counties executed convicts. Between 1893 and 1937, 215 people were executed at San Quentin by hanging, after which 196 prisoners died in the gas chamber. [3] In 1995, the use of gas for execution was ruled “cruel and unusual punishment”, which led to executions inside the gas chamber by lethal injection. [3] Between 1996 and 2006, 11 people were executed at San Quentin by lethal injection. In April 2007, staff of the California Legislative Analyst’s Office discovered that a new execution chamber was being built at San Quentin; legislators subsequently accuse[d] the governor of hiding the project from the Legislature and the public. [20] The old lethal injection facility had included an injection room of 43 square feet (4.0 m2) and a single viewing area; the facility that was being built included an injection chamber of 230 square feet (21 m2) and three viewing areas for family, victim, and press. [21] Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped construction of the facility the next week. In addition to state executions, three federal executions have been carried out at San Quentin. [25] Samuel Richard Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson had been incarcerated at Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary and were executed on December 3, 1948, for the murder of two prison guards during the Battle of Alcatraz. [26] Carlos Romero Ochoa had murdered a federal immigration officer after he was caught smuggling illegal immigrants across the border near El Centro, California. He was executed at San Quentin’s gas chamber on December 10, 1948. On March 13, 2019, after Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a moratorium on the state’s death penalty, the state withdrew its current lethal injection protocol, and San Quentin dismantled and indefinitely closed its gas and lethal injection execution chambers. Prison to Employment Connection, A Better Way Out – Prison to Employment Connection is offered to inmates at San Quentin State Prison who are close to their release dates or have a scheduled Parole Board Hearing. After successfully completing a rigorous 14-week employment readiness program, inmates are invited to an Employer Day. Potential employers (PEC Partners) come to the prison to interview inmates, review their resumes, and offer guidance and support for potential employment upon release. VVGSQ – Vietnam Veterans Group San Quentin – Although the group had been meeting for some time, the name officially began on April 7, 1987. In 1988 they started the annual Christmas Toy giveaway, giving toys to visiting children. In 1989 they began the annual scholarship fund for high school seniors. The Last Mile started in 2011 under Chris Redlitz (entrepreneur and venture capital) initiative. The program aims to give resources and mentorship to inmates to help them find their way into tech startup entrepreneurship and reduce the rate of recidivism. The San Quentin Drama Workshop began at the prison in 1958 after a performance of Waiting for Godot the previous year. The San Quentin SQUIRES (“San Quentin Utilization of Inmate Resources, Experiences, and Studies”) program, which began in 1964, is reported to be the oldest juvenile awareness program in the United States. [32][33] It involves inmates at the prison interacting with troubled youths for the purpose of deterring them from crime, and was the subject of a 1978 documentary film Squires of San Quentin. [33][34] In 1983, a randomized controlled study was published that found that the program produced no overall reduction in delinquency. [33] The program was still functional as of 2008. Since the 1920s, San Quentin inmates have been allowed to play baseball. [36] Starting in 1994 inmates have played against players from outside the prison. [37][38] The games occur twice a week through the summer. [39] Originally the Pirates, [38] the team of prisoners is called the “Giants” in honor of the San Francisco Giants, who donated uniforms to the team. [36][39] A second team called the Athletics was later started, named after the Oakland Athletics. [40] The team of outside players is called the “Willing”. The umpires and fans are inmates, but the coaches on the field are volunteers. [36][39] Although some people question the appropriateness of baseball games being held at the prison, officials believe organized sports is a way to keep inmates occupied and perhaps teach a few lessons on getting along with others. [36] These games were detailed in a Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel episode on June 20, 2006, [37] and in several other documentaries. San Quentin has the only on-site college degree-granting program in California’s entire prison system, which began in 1996 and which is currently run by the Prison University Project. No More Tears Program, co-founded by incarcerated men at San Quentin. This program is committed to stopping the violence in the community and changing the mindset. This program stays alive through donations, volunteers, and CDCR who come into the prison and become involved in the workshops with the incarcerated men: Changing the mindset, Response to Violence, Employability, Fixin’ da Hood. All inmates and volunteers are working toward achieving the program’s mission: stopping the tears of loved ones and family by being committed to stopping the youth from committing acts of violence. The California Reentry Program at San Quentin, begun in 2003, helps inmates re-enter society after they serve their sentences. The San Quentin News is the only inmate-produced newspaper in California and one of the few in the world. The sprawling San Quentin prison complex. Though numerous towns and localities in the area are named after Roman Catholic saints, and “San Quintín” is Spanish for “Saint Quentin”, the prison was not named after the saint. The land on which it is situated, Point Quentin, is named after a Coast Miwok warrior named Quentín, fighting under Chief Marin, who was taken prisoner at that place. [53] A dungeon built at San Quentin in 1854 is thought to be California’s oldest surviving public work. One example of a noteworthy leader at San Quentin was Warden Clinton Duffy from 1940 to 1952. Warden Duffy was a man of contradictions. His public persona was quite positive because of his fresh insights informing the reorganization of the prison structure and reformation of prison management. Prior to Duffy, San Quentin had gone through years of violence, inhumane punishments and civil rights abuses against prisoners. The previous warden was forced to resign. [55] Duffy had the offending prison guards fired and added a librarian, psychiatrists, and several surgeons at San Quentin. Duffy’s press agent publicized sweeping reforms; however, San Quentin remained a brutal prison where prisoners continued to be beaten to death. [56] The use of torture as an approved method of interrogation at San Quentin was banned in 1944. In 1941 the first prison meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this, the 25-millionth copy of the AA Big Book was presented to Jill Brown, of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1947, Warden Duffy recruited Herman Spector to work as assistant warden at San Quentin. Spector turned down the invitation to be assistant warden and chose instead to become senior librarian if he could institute his theories on reading as a program to encourage pro-social behavior. By 1955, Spector was being interviewed in library journals and suggesting the prison library could contribute significantly to rehabilitation. The dining hall of the prison is adorned by six 20 ft (6.1 m) sepia toned murals depicting California history. Lawrence Singleton, who raped a teenaged girl and cut off her forearms, spent a year on parole in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin between 1987 and 1988 because towns in California would not accept him as a parolee. A 2005 court-ordered report found that the prison was old, antiquated, dirty, poorly staffed, poorly maintained with inadequate medical space and equipment and overcrowded. San Quentin up close. San Quentin prisoners on recreation. Isauro Aguirre (born 1980): tortured and killed girlfriend’s 8-year-old son Gabriel Fernandez along with his girlfriend Pearl Fernandez. Aguirre was sentenced to death and Fernandez to life in prison in 2014. The case was the subject of the Netflix series The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. Alejandro Avila (born 1971): the rapist and murderer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion. Sentenced to death in 2005. Richard Delmer Boyer (born 1958): convicted for stabbing an elderly couple to death while high on alcohol and drugs. Claimed to have been partly influenced by a scene in Halloween II. Sentenced to death in 1984. Luis Bracamontes (born 1970): undocumented immigrant who shot and killed two Sacramento police officers and injured a civilian and a third officer. Sentenced to death in 2018. Vincent Brothers (born 1962): convicted in the shooting and stabbing of five members of his family, including three children. Sentenced to death in 2007. Albert Greenwood Brown (born 1954): convicted rapist and child molester who raped and murdered a teen girl in 1980. Sentenced to death in 1982. Brandon Browner (born 1984): former NFL player found guilty of attempted murder, currently serving 8 year sentence. David Carpenter (born 1930): the Trailside Killer. [3] Sentenced to death in 1984 and 1988. [68] Carpenter is the oldest inmate currently. Dean Carter (born 1955): serial killer convicted of murdering four women. Sentenced to death in 1985. Steven David Catlin (born 1944): serial killer who poisoned two wives and his mother. Sentenced to death in 1990. Doug Clark (born 1948): serial killer and necrophile who killed six women with a female accomplice. Sentenced to death in 1983. Kevin Cooper (born 1958): convicted for the hatchet and knife massacre of the Ryen family. Tiequon Cox (born 1965): sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1984 murders of four relatives of the former defensive back NFL player Kermit Alexander. [75] He was involved in an escape attempt in 2000. Jonathan Daniel D’Arcy (born 1962): a janitor from Buena Park, was convicted of first-degree murder in the February 2, 1993 burning death of Karen Marie Laborde, a 42-year-old mother of two who identified D’Arcy as her assailant before she died. D’Arcy was sentenced to death in Orange County on April 11, 1997. Richard Allen Davis (born 1954): convicted of kidnapping and murdering Polly Klaas. [3] Sentenced to death in 1996. Skylar Deleon (born 1979): former child actor and triple murderer responsible for the deaths of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. Sentenced to death in 2009. One of her accomplices, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was also sentenced to death in 2009. Sonny Enraca (born 1972): gang member who shot and killed Boyz n the Hood actor Dedrick D. Gobert during an altercation. Sentenced to death in 1996. Pedro Espinoza (born 1989): 18th Street gang member who murdered Jamiel Shaw II. Sentenced to death in 2013. John Famalaro (born 1950): sentenced to death on September 6, 1997 for the kidnap, rape, and murder of 23-year-old Denise Anette Huber, from Newport Beach, California, in 1991. Famalaro abducted and murdered Denise on June 3, 1991. [80] He was caught in July 1994 when police found her body in an icebox where he had kept her for three years. Richard Farley (born 1948): convicted of killing seven of his co-workers and nearly killing another, a female co-worker whom he stalked after she rejected him. Sentenced to death in 1992. Wayne Adam Ford (born 1961): convicted of killing four women in 1997 and 1998. Sentenced to death in 2006. Rickie Lee Fowler (born 1984): convicted of setting the Old Fire that caused the deaths of five people. Sentenced to death in 2012. Larry Hazlett (born 1948): convicted of the 1978 rape and murder of 20-year-old Rosamond beauty queen Tana Woolley. Sentenced to death in 2004. Glenn Helzer (born 1970): founder of the Children of Thunder cult, alongside his brother Justin Helzer and his girlfriend Dawn Godman, who murdered five people in 2000. Justin hung himself in 2013. Ivan Hill (born 1961): serial killer who killed at least nine women from 1979 to 1994. Eric Houston (born 1972): perpetrator of the Lindhurst school shooting spree that left three students and a teacher dead. Sentenced to death in 1993. The subject of the made-for-television movie Detention: The Siege at Johnson High. Ryan Hoyt (born 1979): associate of Jesse James Hollywood, convicted of the murder of Nicholas Markowitz. Sentenced to death in 2003. Michael Hughes (born 1956): serial killer who killed at least seven women from 1986 to 1993. Sentenced to death in 1998. Emrys John, Tyrone Miller, and Kesaun Sykes: former marines convicted of torturing and murdering Jan Pawel and Quiana Jenkins Pietrzak in 2008. All three were sentenced to death while a fourth accomplice, Kevin Cox, was sentenced to life in prison. Randy Kraft (born 1945): serial killer who was convicted of 16 murders and suspected of 51 others. Sentenced to death in 1989. Gunner Lindberg (born 1975): stabbed a Vietnamese man to death in a racially motivated attack. Jarvis Jay Masters (born 1962): convicted and sentenced to death for participating in the murder of Corrections Officer Hal Burchfield. Timothy Joseph McGhee (born 1973): Toonerville Rifa 13 member believed to have shot at least 12 people between 1997 and 2001 and attempted to kill two LAPD officers in an ambush. Charles “Chase” Merritt (born 1957): murdered the McStay family for financial gain. Sentenced to death in 2020. Andrew Mickel (born 1979): shot a police officer to death at a gas station. Michael Morales (born 1959): convicted for the brutal murder of Terri Winchell. Joseph Naso (born 1934): serial killer who raped and murdered at least six women. Charles Ng (born 1960): serial killer who tortured and murdered 11 people. Sentenced to death in 1999. Raymond Lee Oyler (born 1971): convicted of setting the Esperanza Fire that claimed the lives of five firemen. Gerald Parker (born 1955): serial killer and rapist who killed at least six women and an unborn baby. Scott Peterson (born 1972): convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci and their unborn child, Conner, in a much-publicized trial. (born 1967): serial killer who raped and murdered six women in San Diego in 1990. David Allen Raley (born 1961): security guard who kidnapped and tortured two teenage girls, killing one of them. Sentenced to death in 1988. Ramon Salcido (1961): convicted in 1989 of seven murders, including six relatives and his boss. Vincent Sanchez (born 1973): the “Simi Valley Rapist”. Serial rapist convicted of 75 counts including a first degree murder charge, felony kidnapping, burglary, rape, and other sex offense charges against numerous victims. Wesley Shermantine (born 1966): one half of the Speed Freak Killers serial killer duo, believed to have killed as many as 70 people. Sentenced to death in 2001. His accomplice, Loren Herzog, committed suicide in 2012. Mitchell Sims (born 1960): convicted May 20, 1987, of the hotel-room murder of Domino’s Pizza deliveryman John Harrington in Glendale; also sentenced to death in South Carolina for the murders of two Domino’s employees in that state. Sentenced to death in 1987. (born 1944): serial killer convicted of murdering six women in Sacramento. Cary Stayner (born 1961): serial killer convicted of killing four women in Yosemite. Sentenced to death in 2002. William Suff (born 1950): serial killer convicted of murdering 12 women in Riverside County. Sentenced to death in 1995. Regis Deon Thomas (born 1979): convicted of the murders of three people including two Compton Police officers. Chester Turner (born 1966): serial killer convicted of murdering 14 women in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1998. Billy Ray Waldon (born 1952): murderer and rapist who killed three people. (born 1947): father of convicted murderer Ward Weaver III, who shot and killed two teenagers. Marcus Wesson (born 1946): convicted of killing nine of his family members. David Westerfield (born 1967): convicted of kidnapping and killing seven-year-old Danielle van Dam. Sentenced to death in 2016. Rodney Alcala: serial killer sentenced to death. He is currently at Corcoran State Prison. William Dale Archerd: murdered three family members by injecting them with insulin. Sentenced to death but commuted to life in prison. Died from pneumonia in California Medical Facility in 1977. Bobby Beausoleil: a former associate of the Charles Manson “Family” currently serving a life sentence in prison. Charles Bolles: alias Black Bart, an American Old West outlaw. William Bradford: murdered a barmaid and a 15-year-old girl and may have killed as many as 20 women. Died from natural causes in California Medical Facility in 2008. Edward Bunker: FBI most wanted fugitive who reformed and became an author (he wrote a novel set in San Quentin[100]) and actor. Was sentenced at age 17, the youngest inmate at the time. Rodolfo Cadena: influential member of the Mexican Mafia. Murdered by members of the Nuestra Familia in California Institution for Men in 1972. Curtis Carroll (born 1968): Financial adviser whose insights into investing and trading stock have earned the nickname “Wall Street”. Carroll is serving a sentence of 54 years to life, for murder. Incarcerated in Pelican Bay State Prison. Eldridge Cleaver: member of the Black Panther Party, was an inmate between 1958 and 1963. Joseph Cosey: conman and criminal forger. Louis Crane: serial killer who killed at least 4 women. Died from AIDS complications in hospital in 1989. John Linley Frazier: mass murderer and religious fanatic. Sentenced to death in 1971 but commuted to life in prison. Committed suicide by hanging in Mule Creek State Prison in 2009. Gerald Gallego: serial killer and rapist who kidnapped young girls to keep as sex slaves before killing them with his wife as an accomplice. Was initially sentenced to death in San Quentin but was transferred to Nevada State Prison in 1984 to be executed for murders committed in that state. Died from cancer in Nevada Prison in 2002. Alex García: boxer and former gang member who stabbed a rival to death. Willie Earl Green: wrongfully convicted of murder and exonerated. Griffith: industrialist who shot his wife through the eye. Steve “Clem” Grogan: a former associate of the Charles Manson “Family”. Billy Ray Hamilton: hitman who murdered three witnesses for Clarence Ray Allen in 1980. Died of natural causes in hospital in 2007. Charles Ray Hatcher: serial killer who murdered two young boys in the Bay Area. Michael Wayne Hunter: former death row prisoner and writer who murdered his father and stepmother. Death sentence commuted to life in prison and currently incaerated in Pleasant Valley State Prison. Jang In-hwan: Korean independence activist who assassinated former American diplomat Durham Stevens in 1908. Roger Kibbe: serial killer who admitted to seven murders in Northern California. Currently incarcerated in Mule Creek State Prison. Bruce Lisker: wrongly convicted in the 1983 murder of his mother, Dorka, when he was 17. Exonerated and released from prison in 2009, at age 44. Charles Manson: leader of the Manson family. Transferred to multiple prisons during his life. Died from cancer in hospital on November 19, 2017. Barry Mills: leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, incarcerated during the 1970s for armed robbery. Died in ADX Florence in 2018. Thomas Mooney: political activist and labor leader who was wrongly accused of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916. Originally sentenced to death and then life in prison before being pardoned in 1939. Frank Morgan: saxophonist and heroin addict who formed an ensemble with Art Pepper. Joe “Pegleg” Morgan: influential and first white member of the Mexican Mafia. Died from cancer in Corcoran State Prison in 1993. Ed Morrell, accomplice to the Evans-Sontag rail robbery gang; spent five years in solitary confinement;[109] known as the “Dungeon Man” of San Quentin;[110] pardoned in 1908 and became a well-known advocate of prison reform. Wallace Fard Muhammad: founder of the Nation of Islam. Earle Nelson: serial killer and necrophile who raped and murdered at least 21 women and an infant boy in the 1920s. Spent time in San Quentin for breaking and entering as a teenager. Art Pepper: saxophonist and heroin addict who formed an ensemble with Frank Morgan. Gregory Powell: kidnapped two policemen and shot one of them dead in the Onion Field Murder. Died from cancer in California Medical Facility in 2012. Alfredo Prieto: serial killer and gang member who raped and shot five people in Southern California in 1990. Was transferred to Virginia and executed there for a double murder in 2015. Richard Ramirez: serial killer known as “The Night Stalker, “[3] convicted of killing 13 people. [112] Died of lymphoma in hospital in 2013. Hans Reiser: developer of the ReiserFS file system and convicted for the murder of his wife, sentenced to 15 years to life in 2008. [113] He is currently at Mule Creek State Prison. Joe Remiro (born 1947): member of the Symbionese Liberation Army who murdered educator Marcus Foster in 1973. Abe Ruef: San Francisco political boss, for bribery. San Quentin Six: six inmates who participated in a riot during an escape attempt in 1971 that resulted in the deaths of six people. Fleeta Drumgo was shot dead after he was released in 1979 and Hugo Pinell was stabbed to death during a riot in 2015 after spending 45 years in solitary confinement. Sanyika Shakur: Member of the Crips and author. Spent 36 months in San Quentin. Glen Sherley: musician who spent time in San Quentin in the 1960s. Thomas Silverstein: leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, incarcerated during the 1970s for armed robbery. Died in ADX Florence in 2019. Lawrence Singleton: raped and cut the forearms off a teenage girl before leaving her for dead. Was controversially released after serving eight years and was forced to live on the grounds of San Quentin in a trailer while on parole. Murdered a woman in Florida and died in North Florida Reception Center in 2001. Sirhan Sirhan: assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, sent to death row at San Quentin in May 1969. [120] After the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, Sirhan was transferred to Correctional Training Facility. [121] He is currently at Donovan State Prison. Danny Trejo: actor-inmate between 1965 and 1968. John Pence Wagner: prison evangelist-inmate between 1966 and 1972. Writer of the poem featured on the rear cover of the 1971 album Guilty! By Jimmy Witherspoon and Eric Burdon. Died from cancer in 1999. Tex Watson: a former associate of the Charles Manson “Family” currently serving a life sentence in prison. Anthony Wimberly: serial killer arrested for grand theft auto. Earlonne Woods: convicted of attempted armed robbery. Most known for his work in co-creating and co-hosting the award-winning podcast, Ear Hustle along with Nigel Poor. His sentence was commuted by Governor Jerry Brown on November 30, 2018. George Jackson: co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family and one of the Soledad Brothers. Shot to death during an escape attempt on August 21, 1971. Mack Ray Edwards: child killer who buried bodies under freeways he worked on. Committed suicide by hanging on October 30, 1971. Richard Chase: “vampire killer, ” in 1979 sentenced to death in gas chamber for murdering six people. Committed suicide by drug overdose on December 26, 1980. James Mitose: martial artist convicted of murder. Died from diabetes complications on March 26, 1981. Stuart Alexander: convicted in the 2000 shooting deaths of three USDA meat officials he claimed were harassing him. Died from a pulmonary embolism on December, 27, 2005. Brandon Wilson: convicted in the 1998 slashing death of nine-year-old Matthew Cecchi. [68] Committed suicide on November 17, 2011. Simon: member of a group of Black Muslims who committed racially motivated murders in San Francisco in the 1970s known as the Zebra murders. Found dead in his cell on March 12, 2015. Andrew Urdiales, serial killer who killed eight women. Committed suicide on November 2, 2018. Anthony McKnight: serial killer, rapist, and kidnapper sentenced to death for the murders of five women in 1985. Found dead in his cell on October 17, 2019. Lawrence Bittaker: serial killer convicted of torturing and murdering five young girls. Found dead in his cell on December 13, 2019[68]. Phillip Carl Jablonski: convicted of killing five women. Found dead in his cell on December 27, 2019. Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. Convicted of ten murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles, California. The attacker was dubbed the “Grim Sleeper” because he appeared to have taken a 14-year break from his crimes from 1988 to 2002. Found dead in his cell on March 28, 2020. The San Quentin gas chamber originally employed lethal hydrogen cyanide gas for the purpose of carrying out capital punishment. It was later converted to a lethal injection execution chamber but was restored to its original purpose when a new lethal injection chamber was built. Theodore Durrant: convicted of murdering two women in San Francisco. Executed by hanging on January 7, 1898. Mose Gibson: convicted of murdering a man but confessed to seven total murders before his death. Executed by hanging on September 24, 1920. William Edward Hickman: convicted of kidnapping, mutilating, and murdering 12-year-old Marion Parker, died by hanging on October 19, 1928. Gordon Stewart Northcott: convicted of killing three boys in the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, was hanged on October 2, 1930. Juanita Spinelli : first woman executed in San Quentin’s gas chamber on November 22, 1941. Raymond “Rattlesnake James” Lisenba: convicted of killing his wife, he was the last man to be executed by hanging in California on May 1, 1942. Sam Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson: convicted of killing a guard in the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz escape attempt, executed together in the gas chamber on December 3, 1948. Louise Peete: convicted murderer, executed in the gas chamber on April 11, 1947. Billy Cook: murderer of Carl Mosser, his wife Thelma, their three small children and motorist Robert Dewey. He died in the gas chamber on December 12, 1952. Barbara Graham: convicted murderer, executed in the gas chamber on June 3, 1955. Burton Abbott: convicted of the rape and murder of a teenage girl; executed in the gas chamber on March 15, 1957. Harvey Glatman: convicted of raping and strangling two women, he died in the gas chamber on September 18, 1959. Caryl Chessman: convicted rapist, was given the death penalty in 1948 and executed on May 2, 1960. [144] The last man executed in California for a sexual offense that did not also involve murder. Elizabeth Ann Duncan: convicted of hiring two men to kill her stepdaughter, executed by gas chamber on August 8, 1962. Fourth and last woman to be executed in San Quentin. Aaron Mitchell: convicted of shooting a Sacramento police officer, executed by gas chamber on April 12, 1967. Robert Alton Harris: convicted of murdering two boys, died in the gas chamber on April 21, 1992. David Mason: convicted of murdering five people, he was the last man to be executed in the gas chamber on August 24, 1993. William Bonin: convicted of 14 murders, the “Freeway Killer” (one of three men to have the same nickname) became the first person in California history to be executed by lethal injection on February 23, 1996. Thomas Martin Thompson: convicted of the 1981 killing of Ginger Fleischli, executed by lethal injection on July 14, 1998. Manny Babbitt: convicted murderer who died by lethal injection on May 4, 1999. Darrell Keith Rich: convicted serial killer, executed by lethal injection on March 15, 2000. Stephen Wayne Anderson: convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection on January 29, 2002. Donald Beardslee: convicted of two murders, executed by lethal injection on January 19, 2005. Stanley “Tookie” Williams: convicted murderer, co-founder and early leader of the Crips street gang. Author (several children’s books about his experience at San Quentin[155]) and cause célèbre. Executed by lethal injection on December 13, 2005. Clarence Ray Allen: convicted for ordering the killing of three people. At age 76, he was the oldest person ever executed in California (by lethal injection on January 17, 2006) and the last in the entire state of California. This section appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject’s impact on popular culture, providing citations to reliable, secondary sources, rather than simply listing appearances. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. San Quentin is on the rotation of prisons featured on MSNBC’s show Lockup, a TV documentary series on life in prison. Country music singer Johnny Cash performed at San Quentin at least twice in his career. The first was in 1958, which included among its audience members a young and incarcerated Merle Haggard; Haggard was inspired to pursue music after being released in part because of that concert. [159] Eleven years later, on February 24, 1969, Cash played another live concert for the prison inmates. The 1969 concert was released as an album At San Quentin and as a television documentary Johnny Cash in San Quentin (filmed by Granada Television). “A Boy Named Sue, ” taken from the concert, was Cash’s only Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit, peaking at number two, and winning the 1970 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. During the concert, the song “San Quentin, ” about an inmate’s loathing for the prison, received such an enthusiastic response that Cash immediately played an encore. King recorded Live at San Quentin in the prison; it won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1991. In 2003, heavy metal band Metallica filmed the music video for their song St. Anger from the album of the same name in San Quentin, which featured many of the prison inmates and security staff, and also included then-new bassist Robert Trujillo for the first time since being inducted into the band. The 1937 Warner Brothers film San Quentin featured Pat O’Brien as the captain of the yard and Humphrey Bogart as an inmate. William Beaudine directed the film Men of San Quentin (1942). Humphrey Bogart played a character who escapes from San Quentin in the 1947 film, Dark Passage. The 1954 film Duffy of San Quentin tells the story of Clinton Duffy, who was warden of San Quentin between 1940 and 1952. The 1993 film Blood In Blood Out was used as a location. The 2013 film Fruitvale Station used the prison, in which real life character Oscar Grant did time, as a filming location for a flashback scene. Actual prisoners served as extras. In the 2015 Marvel Studios film Ant-Man, the main character Scott Lang/Ant-Man is imprisoned then released from San Quentin for burglary. In the 2015 Get Hard Will Farrell’s character James King is sent to San Quentin for 6 months on a gun charge. In the 2018 Marvel Studios film Venom, where the serial killer Cletus Kasady (later known as Carnage) is imprisoned. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) visits him to conduct an interview in this post-credits scene. Gang-pulp author Margie Harris wrote a story on San Quentin for the short-lived pulp magazine Prison Stories. The story, titled “Big House Boomerang, ” appeared in the March 1931 issue. It used San Quentin’s brutal jute mill as its setting. Harris’ knowledge of the prison came from her days as a newspaper reporter in the Bay Area, and her acquaintance with famous San Quentin prisoner Ed Morrell. The 1915 novel The Star Rover by Jack London was based in San Quentin. A framing story is told in the first person by Darrell Standing, a university professor serving life imprisonment in San Quentin State Prison for murder. Prison officials try to break his spirit by means of a torture device called “the jacket, ” a canvas jacket which can be tightly laced so as to compress the whole body, inducing angina. Standing discovers how to withstand the torture by entering a kind of trance state, in which he walks among the stars and experiences portions of past lives. Ear Hustle is a podcast created by Earlonne Woods with the help of Nigel Poor. Interviews inmates at San Quentin about life on the inside. San Quentin Six: the six inmates who were accused of participating in the August 21, 1971 escape attempt that left six people dead. Films set in San Quentin State Prison. The Last Mile (prison rehabilitation program). San Quentin State Prison, maximum-security correctional facility for men located in San Quentin, near San Francisco, California. Opened in 1854, the penitentiary is the state’s oldest prison and its only facility that conducts executions. San Quentin is also among the most well-known prisons in the United States. Aerial view of San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco, California. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The prison’s origins date to the California Gold Rush, a period that roughly spanned from 1848 to 1852. The influx of fortune seekers to the San Francisco area also brought an increase in crime. In 1852 some 20 acres (8 hectares) of land were acquired at San Quentin, overlooking San Francisco Bay. Convicts began constructing the building later that year, and the cell blocks were completed in 1854. San Quentin State Prison originally featured 48 windowless cells, which were designed to hold 250 inmates, though that number was quickly exceeded. In addition to male inmates, the prison housed female prisoners until 1933. Initially, San Quentin was under private management. Individuals were awarded contracts to run the facility, and in return they were allowed to hire out the inmates. The arrangement proved ripe for abuse. Lessors were accused of profiteering and mismanagement, as prisoners were subjected to inhumane living conditions and brutal punishments. Standard disciplinary measures included floggings and “shower baths, ” in which inmates were stripped and sprayed with a high-pressure water hose. In addition, lax security allowed for frequent prison escapes; in 1854 more than 80 prisoners broke out of San Quentin. Complaints increased during the lease of John F. McCauley, and the state used “force” to assume control of the prison in 1858. The following year McCauley successfully sued to reclaim the seized property. However, his return to San Quentin proved short-lived as he accepted a settlement from California in August 1860 to end his contract. After the state resumed control of the prison, lieutenant governors were initially appointed to also serve as wardens. However, this practice ended in 1880 with J. Ames, who became the first warden whose sole job was to run the prison. Under his oversight, floggings and whippings were banned. Other notable wardens include James A. Johnston, whose tenure (1913-25) brought improved medical treatment and the creation of educational and vocational training. He also replaced corporal punishment with solitary confinement. During this time, the inmates also began publishing Wall City News, called the only newspaper in the world published within the walls of a prison. Although it ceased publication in the mid-1930s, the paper was revived (as San Quentin News) under Clinton Duffy, warden from 1940 to 1951; the newspaper was suspended periodically in the ensuing years. Duffy also discontinued the use of solitary confinement, though the practice was later reinstated. San Quentin’s first female warden, Jeanne Woodford, served from 1999 to 2004. A vocal advocate of rehabilitation, she instituted a wide range of programs. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The various wardens also oversaw numerous expansions and renovations of San Quentin. Construction in the 1880s included several factory-type structures, a wall surrounding the complex, and a second hospital. A dramatic increase in the inmate population in the early 20th century necessitated additional buildings. Notably, in the 1920s and’30s, four cell blocks, each of which featured multiple tiers, were built. With these expansions, the grounds also increased and eventually covered some 432 acres (175 hectares). In 1893 California’s first state-conducted execution, the hanging of a convicted murderer, took place at San Quentin. Folsom State Prison also staged executions from 1895 to 1937, but thereafter San Quentin became California’s only penitentiary to implement the death penalty. In 1938 a gas chamber was installed, and it remained in use until 1996, when lethal injection was adopted. As the sole state facility to hold executions, San Quentin housed a number of serial killers and other murderers, notably Charles Manson, who was arguably its most famous inmate. Throughout its history, San Quentin was the site of violence, perhaps most notably in the 1960s and’70s. Of particular note was a failed escape in 1971 that left six people dead. Political and racial issues also resulted in conflicts, and since the mid-1990s the prison’s extreme overcrowding has caused problems. Although designed for nearly 3,100 inmates, the population generally far exceeded that number. The lack of space as well as security concerns over the aging prison led to calls to close the facility, and such efforts increased in the early 21st century. However, proposals for the use of the prison’s land-which was prime real estate-were hotly debated. Small thistle New from Britannica. The huddle used in American football was invented by the quarterback of a deaf team so that the other team wouldn’t be able to see their signals. See All Good Facts. As one of the oldest prisons in the United States, San Quentin was among the country’s most well known, referenced in numerous movies, television shows, songs, and books. It gained additional prominence after country singers Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, a former inmate, performed there in 1969 and 1971, respectively. In addition, San Quentin inmates were regularly featured in episodes of the TV documentary series Lockup. Facts & Related Content. More Articles On This Topic. American musician and actress. Entertainment & Pop Culture. Alternate titles: Merle Ronald Haggard. By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Edit History. Born: April 6, 1937 California. Died: April 6, 2016 (aged 79) near Redding California. Awards And Honors: Grammy Award (1998) Grammy Award (1984). Notable Works: “Okie From Muskogee”. Merle Haggard, in full Merle Ronald Haggard, born April 6, 1937, Oildale, California, U. Died April 6, 2016, near Redding, California, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, one of the most popular country music performers of the late 20th century, with nearly 40 number one country hits between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s. Haggard’s parents moved from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to the Bakersfield area of California, and he grew up in a converted boxcar. His father died when he was 9 years old, and, by the time he was 14, he was engaged in a life of petty crime and truancy, with frequent stays in juvenile facilities. His escapades eventually led to incarceration (1957-60) in the California State Prison at San Quentin. Singles that reflect that experience include “Branded Man” [1967] and “Sing Me Back Home” [1968]. USA 2006 – 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood. Although there was a prison building boom in the 1990s, the rates of incarceration in California have increased exponentially, and much has been made of the private prison industry at present, the corrections industry in California has always created opportunity for profit. From the private leasing of convicts stored on boats in the San Francisco Bay, to land speculation on the first building site, the state prison institution was a profit-making enterprise from its inception. Governor John McDougal, who had served as a superintendent of the state prison back east in Indiana, infuriated the members of the Committee of Vigilance when he refused to support their extralegal activities. He insisted that a state prison was in needed to isolate villains from society, and in 1851, legislators showed their agreement by passing an Act providing for securing of State Prison Convicts. This system would later gain widespread use in many states as a response to the abolition of slavery. The legislature accepted the offer of a one hundred thousand dollar bond from two former Mexican war heroes, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and James Madison Estell. The group of lease owners, led by Estell who retained controlling interest, formed the San Francisco Manufacturing Company to capitalize on prison labor. Even before the selection of a prison site, Estell and company began to accept prisoners from the six county jails throughout the state. Deputies from San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Jose and San Francisco were paid one dollar per mile for their escort services, and soon an abundance of prisoners arrived on the scene. Estell hired Colonel John Hayes and Major John Caperton (the sheriff and deputy of San Francisco) as subcontractors for the storage of the prisoners. Early in the 1852 session, the California legislature passed an act to provide for the erection of a State Prison. After the initial rejection of the Vallejo land as the site for the prison, a State Commission was appointed to decide the best prison location. Though Angel Island was considered the most suitable place, it was not available due to federal claims on islands, which also included Alcatraz and Goat Island (Yerba Buena). Punta de Quentin was chosen to be the building site for the new prison. Quentin or Quintun was a Miwok Indian whose home was in the Petaluma area. He had gained fame in the 1820s for resistance to the Spanish mission at San Rafael. He was finally captured by Lieutenant Ignacio Martinez’ men after being trapped on the high point overlooking the bay. After his capture, he was transported to work at Mission Dolores for two years, and then released to the custody of General Vallejo, who retained him as a boatman and interpreter in Indian affairs. In his memoirs, Vallejo explains the origin of the “San” in San Quentin as confusion by the Americans in thinking that all Spanish place names were prefaced by San. Following the independence of Mexico from Spain, the Missions were stripped of their land and authority, and became simply churches. Thus in 1834, the land around the San Rafael Mission was parceled out as land grants to various settlers. The Punta de Quentin land grant took in the entire peninsula including part of the valley toward Tamalpais and the salt marshes, making up two square leagues (4,400 acres each). Governor Alvarado deeded it to Juan B. Cooper accepted, and other than a previous lumber contract, Buckalew became the new owner of the peninsula. Just two years later, in 1852, Buckelew solicited the State Prison Commission to review his land for a prison site. At about 145 % profit, Ben Buckalew became one of the earliest Marin County land speculators. Estell, who was by then senator of Napa, quickly visited the site. It was clear that the profit for Estell would be in making bricks from the nearby clay deposits. The San Francisco Manufacturing Company bought 16 acres of land adjacent to the prison land for a steam brickyard. Carpentier, the first mayor of Oakland, was the chair of the State Prison Commission, but had been unable to visit the San Quentin site with the other commissioners. In the 1853 legislative session, the contract was investigated once again and the Senate (Estell was a senator that year) heard testimony again about the language of the 1852 act. As a consequence of the hearings, Vassault lost the contract. After the scandal, the legislature authorized funding for only one main cell building, and Estell’s company, using bricks prepared by the convict laborers, completed the two story prison building known as “The Stones”.