California to Close San Quentin’s Death Row

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2022

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Three years after placing a moratorium on executions in California, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the closure of death row at San Quentin on Monday. More than 500 inmates will merge with the general prison population at other maximum security facilities over the next two years, but will maintain their current sentences. California hasn’t performed an execution since 2006. While critics of capital punishment cheered the move, one advocate for crime victims said Newsom was “pouring more salt on the wounds of victims” We’ll talk with San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan about the changes at San Quentin and the future of the death penalty in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.6	From KQED.
0:35.6	Welcome back to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:39.2	Three years after placing a moratorium on executions in California,
0:43.2	Governor Gavin Newsom announced a closure of death row at San Quentin on Monday,
0:48.6	as well as the women's prison where death row inmates are held in Chowchilla.
0:52.3	They'll maintain their current sentences, but won't be
0:54.9	held in separate solo cells. More than 500 inmates will merge with the general prison population
1:00.5	at other maximum security facilities over the next two years. And here to talk about this
1:06.3	landmark in California's kind of long road on the death penalty. We're joined by the San Francisco
1:11.6	Chronicles, Kevin Fagan. Welcome to the show. Hi. Thanks for having me. You know, Kevin,
1:18.1	I just want our listeners to know your sort of background with this issue, because you go way back,
1:24.7	decades covering death row and executions.
1:29.3	Yeah, it doesn't feel like that long ago, but I guess it is.
	...

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