California Empties Out Death Row

Part of a 2016 California ballot measure adopted by the voters to speed the death penalty process is now being enforced, but it won’t result in any executions.  Louis Casiano of Fox News reports that the provision of Proposition 66 that allows the state to house condemned inmates in other prisons rather than keeping them on Death Row at San Quentin, will be implemented this year.  Inmates on Death Row must request a transfer and be evaluated to determine if they can be moved to another prison.  One of the initiative’s authors, CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger, told reporters “One of the arguments made against the death penalty was it cost too much to house them at San Quentin, which is an antique facility.”

The possibility of enforcing the other provisions of the initiative anytime soon ended last year when newly-elected Governor Gavin Newsom announced a blanket reprieve on executions for every murderer on Death Row.  While housing condemned murderers in other prisons will be less expensive than keeping them at San Quentin, it could also increase the danger to corrections officers and other inmates.  The threat of receiving another death sentence in a state which is not enforcing the law anyway, won’t be much of a deterrent for a murderer moved to another prison who is considering taking down a guard or a fellow inmate.