San Quentin State Prison
From Freepedia
San Quentin State Prison is located on 432 acres (1.7 km²) on Point Quentin in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco. San Quentin State Prison was opened in July 1852, and is the oldest prison in California. It was built by inmates who were housed on the prison ship Waban during the construction. San Quentin held both male and female inmates until 1933 when the women's prison at Tehachapi was built.
The state's male death row is located at San Quentin, as well as its only gas chamber. It has a reputation of being one of the state's most violent prisons. Designed to house 3,317 inmates, it currently has nearly twice that number.
Johnny Cash famously performed a concert for the inmates live at San Quentin. Metallica recorded the music video "St. Anger" at San Quentin. Paul Rodriguez has performed numerous comedy concerts at San Quentin.
In 1941 the first prison meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this, and to mark the prison's strong support of A.A. since that time, the 25-millionth copy of the A.A. "Big Book" was presented to Jill Brown, Warden of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 30 June - 3 July 2005.
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Noted current inmates
- Alejandro Avila- Convicted of killing 5 year-old Samantha Runnion.
- Brothers Hector and Reynaldo Ayala - The Ayala brothers were convicted in separate trials in 1989 for the April 1985 shooting deaths of three people in a Logan Heights automobile repair garage in San Diego.
- David Carpenter - The "Trailside Killer".
- Kevin Cooper- Convicted of killing four people and injuring one in a house in the 1980s. He claims the police set him up.
- Richard Davis - Kidnapped and murdered Polly Klaas.
- Mikhail Markhasev- Convicted of killing Bill Cosby's son Ennis and sentenced to life without parole.
- Charles Ng- Serial killer who killed 11 people.
- Scott Peterson - Convicted murderer of his wife, Laci and unborn son, Conner.
- Richard Ramirez - Serial killer. Alias the "Night Stalker".
- Ramon Salcido - Sonoma County spree killer.
- Marcus Wesson- Convicted of killing nine of his family members.
- David Westerfield- Convicted of kidnapping and killing 7 year-old Danielle van Dam.
- Stanley Williams - Founder of the Crips street gang.
Former inmates
- Caryl Chessman - Convicted sex offender, was given the death penalty in 1948 and executed in 1960.
- Juan Corona- Convicted of killing 25 people and sentenced to life without parole. Transferred to Corcoran State Prison.
- 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.
- George Jackson of the Black Panther Party, killed in San Quentin in 1971.
- Charles Manson - Leader of the Manson family. Transferred to Corcoran State Prison in 1989. [1]
- Kevin Mitchel - Age 12; the youngest prisoner in California history (Incarcerated 2003)
- Wallace Fard Muhammad - Founder of the Nation of Islam.
- Sirhan Sirhan - Assassin of Robert F Kennedy. Has since been transferred to Corcoran State Prison.
- Actor Danny Trejo.
Source for all inmates: Los Angeles Times Article: "San Quentin"
Note about the name
San and Santa are the Spanish words for Saint, San being the male form, and Santa the female. However Quentin was not a saint; he was actually a prisoner who served time for murder in the prison during its history. The reason for this naming is that many places in the locality already had the name San or Santa, for example San Rafael, San Francisco, San Anselmo, Santa Rosa and San Jose to name a few. When naming the prison after the infamous Quentin, the authorities decided to keep the local "san tradition" and named it San Quentin.
External links
- California Department of Corrections: San Quentin State Prison
- rotten.com > Library > Crime > Prison > San Quentin State Prison
