Insiders Say California’s Integration of Death Row Inmates May Accelerate Violence

‘I never in a million years thought California would release these types of inmates to the general population. Have they lost their minds?’

An officer moves a prisoner at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

The California Department of Corrections announced March 18 it is hastening a pilot program begun in 2020 to phase out segregated death row units at San Quentin prison and the Central California Women’s Facility, and transferring inmates to other prisons where they will be with the general population.

The policy seeks to comply with Proposition 66, requiring death row-sentenced individuals to work to pay restitution to victims as they serve sentences. The transfer program was approved Jan. 31, and the state’s Corrections Department began transferring individuals Feb. 26.