San Quentin's Death Row
According to "Inside Death Row / At San Quentin, 647
condemned killers wait to die in the most populous execution antechamber in the
United States" by Peter Fimrite, a journalist for the San Francisco
Chronicle, convicted murders wait to be executed for many years. Their death
will happen in a lime green execution chamber. The execution of Stanley
"Tookie" Williams is making headlines. For more information about
Stanley "Tookie" Williams, please visit the Stanley
"Tookie" Williams web page within this site. The California
Department of Corrections would like to spend $233 million on a new death row
facility to increase the inmate capacity to 768 cells. On average, inmates who
are given the death penalty will spend 16 years in prison before they are executed.
Between 1978, when the death penalty was reinstated, and 2005, there were 11
executions, 12 inmates committed suicide, and 30 others died of natural causes.
In the year 2005 and prior, the average death row population was increasing by
about 30 inmates per year. The original death row facility in the prison, built
in 1934, houses 68 inmates who are deemed as safe because they get along with
other prisoners and don’t create a ruckus. Built in 1927, the East block houses
415 inmates. This block is not as nice as the original death row facility and
is five stories tall. Even though the inmates are sentenced to death, they
spend most of their time playing chess or basketball, reading, going to church
or taking college courses. Some inmates also have web sites where they write to
pen pals (1-4). Images below courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle, 2005.