San Quentin State Prison

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The sprawling San Quentin prison complex.
The sprawling San Quentin prison complex.
San Quentin up close.
San Quentin up close.

San Quentin State Prison is located on 432 acres (1.7 km²) on Point Quentin in Marin County, California, United States, north of San Francisco. San Quentin State Prison was opened in July 1852, and is the oldest prison in California.

The state's male death row is located at San Quentin, as well as its only gas chamber. In recent years, however, the gas chamber has been used to carry out lethal injections.

Contents

[edit] Current facility

The prison occupies 275 acres of waterfront land overlooking the bay and is estimated to be worth $80 to $100 million, making it the most valuable prison in the world.[1]

It has its own ZIP Code, 94974; the surrounding area is 94964. It is bordered by the water of the San Francisco Bay to the south and east and by Interstate 580, just after it crosses the bay on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

San Quentin has the only on-site college degree-granting program in California's entire prison system, run by the Prison University Project.[2][3]

[edit] History

Although numerous towns and localities in the area (and in California generally) are named for Roman Catholic saints, and "San Quintín" is Spanish for "Saint Quentin", the prison is not in fact named after the saint. The land on which it is situated, Point Quentin, is named after a Coast Miwok warrior named Quintín, fighting under Chief Marin, who was taken prisoner at that place.[4][5]

In 1851, California's first prison opened; it was "a 268-ton wooden ship named The Waban, anchored in San Francisco Bay and outfitted to hold 30 inmates."[6][7] Subsequently, inmates who were housed on the Waban constructed San Quentin which "opened in 1852 with 68 inmates."[8] The prison held both male and female inmates until 1932 when the original California Institution for Women prison at Tehachapi was built.

In 1941 the first prison meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this, the 25-millionth copy of the A.A. "Big Book" was presented to Jill Brown, of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The use of torture as "an approved method of interrogation" at San Quentin was banned in 1944.[8]

Alfredo Santos, one-time convicted heroin dealer and successful artist, painted six remarkable, 20-foot sepia toned murals during his incarceration that have hung in the dining hall of the prison since 1955.[9]

On February 24, 1969, Johnny Cash played a live concert, At San Quentin, for the prison inmates. The concert was released as an album and was filmed by Granada Television[10].

In 2003, Metallica filmed the video for the song St. Anger inside San Quentin, playing to enthusiastic inmates. In 2007, as part of their World-wide tour, Michael Franti and Spearhead played a show for almost the entire prison population.

On 18 November 2006 the hip-hop group Flipsyde had a concert in the prison, which was not open for the public.

[edit] Notable current inmates

The San Quentin gas chamber originally employed lethal cyanide gas for the purpose of carrying out capital punishment. The chamber has since been converted to an execution chamber where lethal injection is used. Two chairs once sat where the restraining table is now located.
The San Quentin gas chamber originally employed lethal cyanide gas for the purpose of carrying out capital punishment. The chamber has since been converted to an execution chamber where lethal injection is used. Two chairs once sat where the restraining table is now located.

[edit] Notable former inmates

  • Clarence Ray Allen - Convicted for ordering the strangulation of Mary Sue Kitts and the shotgun killing of Bryon Schletewitz and seven others (others were not killed). Executed on January 17, 2006.
  • Jesse James Hollywood - Arrested for the kidnapping and second-degree murder of Nicholas Markowitz. After being on the run for five years he was arrested in Brazil living in a beach town. He is currently on trial and if found guilty he faces the death penalty.[citation needed]
  • Charles Bolles, alias Black Bart, an American Old West outlaw.[8]
  • William Richard Bradford - convicted of two murders in the 1980s, the Los Angeles Police Department revealed in July 2006 that there is cause to believe he was a serial killer responsible for several murders in the 1970s and 1980s. He died of natural causes while awaiting execution on March 10, 2008.
  • Edward Bunker - FBI most wanted fugitive who reformed and became an author and actor. Was sentenced at age 17, the youngest inmate at the time.
  • Caryl Chessman - Convicted rape offender, was given the death penalty in 1948 and executed in 1960; the last man executed in California for a sexual offense that did not result in murder.
  • 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.
  • Juan Corona - Convicted of killing 25 people and sentenced to life without parole. He is currently at Corcoran State Prison.
  • Joseph Cosey - convicted of various crimes; known for document forgery from 1913-1940 of historical United States figures.
  • Henry Cowell - American composer convicted on a "morals" charge in 1936.
  • Mack Ray Edwards convicted child killer who committed suicide while on death row.
  • Barbara Graham - Convicted murderess, executed in the gas chamber on June 3, 1955. Subject of the film I Want to Live! starring Susan Hayward.
  • Leo Gordon - American character actor (TV and film) and screenplay writer. Sentenced to 4 years for armed robbery. Later part of a movie cast which filmed scenes inside San Quentin.
  • Merle Haggard - The noted country singer, sentenced to 15 years time (he served 3 years) starting at age 19 for grand theft auto and armed robbery.
  • Robert Alton Harris - The first person executed in San Quentin's gas chamber after the reinstitution of California's death penalty.
  • Michael Wayne Hunter - Sentenced to death after the murders of his father and stepmother in 1981. Retried in 2002, sentenced to Life. Transferred to Salinas Valley State Prison.
  • George Jackson - Member of the Black Panther Party, killed in San Quentin in 1971.
  • Jang In-hwan - Korean independence activist who assassinated former American diplomat Durham Stevens in 1908[11]
  • Charles Manson - Leader of the Manson family. Transferred to Corcoran State Prison in 1989.[12] [1]
  • S. S. Millard - Exploitation filmmaker
  • James Mitose - Japanese American martial artist who brought the art of Kenpo to the United States starting in the late 1930s.
  • Wallace Fard Muhammad - Founder of the Nation of Islam.
  • Louise Peete - Convicted murderess, executed in the gas chamber on 11 April 1947.
  • Abe Ruef - San Francisco political boss, for bribery
  • Sirhan Sirhan - Assassin of Robert F. Kennedy. Was sent to Death Row at San Quentin in May 1969[13]. After the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, Sirhan was transferred to Correctional Training Facility[14]. He is currently at Corcoran State Prison.
  • Danny Trejo - Actor.
  • Chester Turner - serial killer convicted of killing 10 women in Los Angeles
  • Stanley Tookie Williams - Convicted murderer & early leader of the Crips street gang. Author and cause celebre. Executed by lethal injection on December 13, 2005.

[edit] In popular culture

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Underaged girls have sometimes been referred to as "San Quentin Quail", on the assumption that violators of California's minor protection laws could end up there. In the 1940 Marx Brothers film Go West Groucho Marx plays a character named "S. Quentin Quale". There was also a 1946 Warner Brothers cartoon featuring a quail named and titled Quentin Quail. [2]
  • House of Numbers, a 1957 film noir, depicts two brothers (both played by Jack Palance) in a plot to break out of San Quentin. [17] One of Alfredo Santos' murals is shown during the scenes in the cafeteria.
  • In 1993 a movie titled Blood In Blood Out, which was based on Mexican / Prison gang warfare in Southern California, was filmed in parts at the prison.
  • In the movie Heathers the character Veronica, after realizing that she had helped her boyfriend murder a high school classmate mutters that she does not know whether her college application should be sent to Stanford or San Quentin.
  • MythBusters visited San Quentin in a 2005 episode to conduct research about a paper crossbow.
  • The character Quentin in Cube is named after San Quentin.
  • Louis Theroux: Behind Bars a 2008 BBC documentary that explores the relationships between prisoners and their guards.[19]
  • In NaS's track Life's A Bitch from his acclaimed record Illmatic, AZ mentioned it in his verse:
Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
  • Through the summer, groups of local, amateur baseball players gain access to the prison yard and play against the inmates in weekly games. Appropriately, the team of prisoners is called the "Giants" in honor of the San Francisco Giants, who donated old uniforms to the team. The team of outside players is called the "Willing". The only non-prisoners on the field are the opposing team--even the umpires are inmates and the only guards nearby are in the adjacent tower. These games were detailed in a Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel episode on June 20, 2006.
  • Music legend Johnny Cash performed a concert for inmates at San Quentin in 1969. The performance was recorded and released later that year as an album entitled "Johnny Cash at San Quentin". The concert was also filmed by a UK television channel. During the concert the song "San Quentin", about an inmates loathing of his incarceration, received such an enthusiastic response that it was immediately encored.
  • In the Logo network's TV Show "The Big Gay Sketch Show," guests on the fictional reality TV Show "America's Next Top Bottom" endure a challenge consisting of being "photographed as one of Hollywood's iconic leading ladies" and then "spend a night in San Quentin." After the contest, one of the fictional contestants, in a set designed to look like the jail, said "I think I did pretty well on the challenge, of course the poppers help."

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://deputydog.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/prisons-of-the-world/
  2. ^ MacLaren, Becca. San Quentin inmates get diplomas, set goals. Marin Independent Journal, June 29, 2007.
  3. ^ Prison University Project Web site. Accessed 06 Jan 2008.
  4. ^ Sliney, Edgar M. (Ted). A History of Mission San Rafael, Archangel. "From the Marin County Historical Society Magazine, vol. XV, no. 1, 1989, pp. 4-13."
  5. ^ Gudde, Erwin G. California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. ISBN 0520242173
  6. ^ California Department of Justice. California Criminal Justice Time Line 1822-2000. Accessed 08 Jan 2008.
  7. ^ Ewell, Miranda. San Quentin Sets Its History Free. Famed Prison To Detail Its Past In New Museum. San Jose Mercury News, May 27, 1991.
  8. ^ a b c Reed, Dan. Killer Location May Doom San Quentin Prison. Also Calling It Outdated, State to Consider Razing Infamous Bayside Penitentiary for Housing. San Jose Mercury News, August 20, 2001.
  9. ^ Russell, Ron. Hidden Treasure: Half a century ago, ex-heroin dealer Alfredo Santos created an epic work of art inside San Quentin. Now, he's coming back to be honored for it. SF Weekly, July 23, 2003.
  10. ^ Internet Movie Database. Johnny Cash in San Quentin. Accessed 08 Jan 2008.
  11. ^ Dudden, Alexis (2004). Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power. University of Hawaii Press, 81-83. ISBN 0824828291. 
  12. ^ Lopez, Pablo. Charles Manson Transferred to Corcoran Prison. Fresno Bee, March 16, 1989.
  13. ^ Sirhan Transferred to San Quentin in Secret Night Flight. Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1969.
  14. ^ Gorney, Cynthia. Sirhan Sirhan Feels 10 Years Is Long Enough in Prison. Los Angeles Times, September 23, 1979.
  15. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029511/ San Quentin (1937)
  16. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038905/ San Quentin (1946)
  17. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050526/ House of Numbers (1957)
  18. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051758/ I Want to Live (1958)
  19. ^ Rachel Cooke interviews broadcaster and documentary maker Louis Theroux | Review | The Observer

[edit] External links