CA: Officials open state's death row to make case for new facility

SJ Mercury News ^ | 2/11/03 | AP - San Quentin

[NormsRevenge]

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) - It was a scene from a 1940s prison movie. Heavily barred cells stretched five tiers up, footsteps clanged on metal stairs as officers marched condemned men to their cells, a steady trickle of water from a makeshift shower splashed down to the concrete floor.

[NormsRevenge]

Gov. Gray Davis has proposed building a new death row at San Quentin that would hold 1,000 men and replace the current patchwork of dilapidated -- and in some cases near-antique -- facilities with a modern, security conscious design.

The new unit would cost $220 million, a tough sell in a year when California is facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall that is forcing cuts in education funding.

It's not like we should call it Death Row anymore, maybe we could call it Happy Waiting Row or something.

[NormsRevenge]

Perched on the edge of the San Francisco Bay, California's death row was built in 1934 and designed to handle 68 inmates. Today, the number of condemned men has passed 600, most of them packed into two buildings originally intended for regular prisoners.

Rack 'em up and start sending 'em to meet their maker. That ought to clear some space up.

[heleny]

In the original death row, now reserved for the most senior and well-behaved men

They've been on death row for the longest time. Isn't it about time to create space for the next "most senior" death row convicted murderers?