By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-04-01 19:53:18 | Updated at 2025-04-02 22:42:10
1 day ago
California plans to spend around $240 million of taxpayer money on a new prison rehab center that comes with lavish amenities, including a farmers market, grocery store and podcast studio for inmates.
The San Quentin State Prison, branded the Golden State's 'most notorious prison' by Governor Gavin Newsom, is undergoing sweeping changes to bring 'the nation's most innovative rehabilitation facility' to life by early 2026.
A former warehouse in the future complex was demolished in August 2024 to make way for the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center’s 'cutting-edge educational complex' that is set to cost residents a whopping $239 million.
Newsom first introduced the plan soon after he was elected in 2018 when he placed a moratorium on executions and began dismantling San Quentin's death row, transferring 670 condemned inmates into the general prison population.
The prison is known for housing bloodthirsty serial killers and other dangerous offenders, including Charles Manson, William Bonin, Richard 'Night Stalker' Ramirez, and wife-killer Scott Peterson.
In 2023, the Democratic governor announced plans to convert the prison into a Nordic-style facility, designed to help inmates transition smoothly to civilian life once released.
Newsom's administration even hired Schmidt Hammer Lassen, a Danish architecture firm, to re-design the maximum security prison into a Scandinavian inspired incarceration center.
The 'human campus atmosphere' is supposed to help 'normalize' prisoners by allowing them access to a library, café, stores, classrooms and media facilities that 'are strategically located on higher levels to prioritize access to natural light and flexibility,' according to the construction project plan.
California plans to spend $239 million of taxpayer money to build a luxury rehabilitation center for inmates at the San Quentin State Prison. (Pictured: Rendered image of center)
A former warehouse in the future complex was successfully demolished in August 2024 (pictured) to make way for the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center’s 'cutting-edge educational complex'
The concept is being supported by an advisory committee full of prison reform advocates and criminal justice experts.
Council members have suggested several aspects for the rehab center, including reducing the size of the incarcerated population, investing in reentry beds and housing, improved housing for inmates and staff, and to help reduce construction costs for the center, a January 2024 report stated.
Members have also advocated for the space to 'make food nutrition foundational to the San Quentin experience', which is expected to be implemented through the farmer's market, garden and external vendors.
The new space is also set to offer inmates the chance to enjoy not just the indoors but the outdoors as well with nature-filled areas for them to enjoy.
A rendered image showed what a garden space in between the building would look like.
A total of six buildings make up the new center - each for a specific purpose like learning, as well as a reentry and a media center.
Under its new construction, the population size of the prison is expected to shrink from about 3,400 to 2,400 with some prisoners being transferred elsewhere.
Those who remain will be housed in their own rooms without bunk beds.
The new complex is set to come with a farmers market, grocery store, podcast studio, learning center and outdoor access
A rendered image showed what a garden space in between the building, would look like
In preparation for the overhaul, the prison's security level has been lowered from maximum to medium.
Because of this, the facility will only house prisoners who pose a lower escape risk and who have few behavioral issues.
Todd Javernick, a spokesperson with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the San Francisco Chronicle how the 'holistic initiative' will enhance the prison.
'The holistic initiative leverages international, data-backed best practices to improve the well-being of those who live and work at state prisons,' Javernick said.
Newsom's administration anticipates the renovated prison will help open doors for similar alterations at other correctional facilities in the state and the nation.
They even launched the 'California Model' - a magazine that 'offers key insights into the CA Model’s pillars and progress, featuring expert views from CDCR leadership' on how the state is transforming the prison space.
While some are excited for this new venture, many citizens, family members of victims, and advocates are worried that the hefty funding is going toward the wrong project.
Family members of prisoners who are currently housed there are also worried their loved ones will be moved to other parts of the state.
'Pure insanity. San Quentin is a dark, dank horrible place but it’s a prison. This cannot be real…,' one user wrote online after hearing about the budget.
'We need to turn san quentin into a four seasons or just let people build homes there, what could be some of the most valuable real estate in the world is being used for a literal prison lol,' another suggested.
But Javernick said the remodel is expected to create 'a better life for all Californians.'
'The initiative’s goal is creating safer communities and a better life for all Californians, by breaking cycles of crime for the incarcerated population, while improving workplace conditions for institution staff,' he continued.
