San Quentin has roughly 700 inmates on death row (Picture: AP)
San Quentin State Prison in California will be moving all of its death row inmates as it transforms into a rehabilitation centre.
As the oldest prison in the state and home of the largest death row in the US, the facility has housed some notorious criminals over the last 170 years.
San Quentin held around 4,000 inmates at a time – 120% over its capacity. Two inmates would share cells 4ft by 8ft, with bunks and a toilet.
The prison, which was described as the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere, had roughly 700 inmates on death row at once.
The facility’s gas chamber was used for over 100 executions and has become known as one of the US’ most infamous death chambers.
But Governor Gavin Newsom will close the death row unit and move the remaining 533 death row inmates to facilities across the state as the lock-up is transformed into a prison
Seventy inmates have been moved so far. Inmates will not be put to death but will instead spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
As San Quentin moves along in its reform, we’ve taken a look back at the infamous prisoners who called it home.
Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer
Ronnie was on death row at San Quentin in the early 1980s, before his verdict was overturned (Credits: Alamy Stock Photo)
Rodney Alcala was a convicted serial killer and sex offender, sentenced to death in California for murders committed in the 1970s.
He was charged with eight murders but authorities believe his victim count could be as high as 130.
The sadist was known as the Dating Game Killer because he appeared on the television show The Dating Game in 1978 amid his spree.
On the show, contestant Cheryl Bradshaw chose him as an ‘eligible bachelor’.
The pair conversed backstage but Bradshaw said in an interview with the Sydney Telegraph that ‘he was acting really creepy’ and ‘didn’t want to see him again,’
Her intuition might have just saved her life.
Alcala would ‘toy’ with his victims, strangling them until they were unconscious, reviving them, and then repeating the twisted process before finally killing them.
Bobby ‘Cupid’ Beausoleil
Bobby first met Charles Manson in 1968, when he was living with his victim (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
Murderer and Charles Manson associate Bobby Beausoleil has been incarcerated at San Quentin since the 1970s.
He was sentenced to death in 1969 for the fatal stabbing of music teacher Gary Hinman – a ‘friend’ of the Manson Family.
Hinman allowed the Mansons to occasionally stay at his home in Colorado.
Beausoleil, along with other associates from the Manson family, was sent to Hinman’s home by Charles Manson to torture money out of him.
Hinman was held hostage for two days, during which he was slashed and violently assaulted.
On Manson’s instruction, Beausoleil stabbed him to death, writing the words ‘Political Piggy’ on the wall with Hinman’s blood. He also drew a panther paw, the symbol of the Black Panthers.
Fifty years later, Beausoleil is one of San Quentin’s older inmates, making fresh bids for parole as he promises to be an upright citizen and contribute to society.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Beausoleil, 76, said he has been releasing music behind bars throughout his sentence and has high hopes for California governor Newsom’s plans for reformation.
‘I like Newsom. He’s kind of ballsy. He talks a lot about reforming the criminal justice system. I’m not planning on hanging out too much longer in here. I’ve pretty much already said all my goodbyes,’ he said.
Theodore Durrant, ‘The Demon of the Belfry’
Theodore Durrant was hung for his crimes at San Quentin in 1898 (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
‘The Demon of Belfry’ was just 24 when he was sentenced to death for two murders committed at San Fransisco’s Baptist Church.
The two victims had been badly mutilated, and Theodore Durrant was the last to see either of them alive.
Durrant maintained his innocence until he died in 1898.
His sister was the famous dancer and performer Maud Allan, who starred in Oscar Wilde’s Salome.
Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams III
Williams was one of the last men to be executed in California (Picture: AP)
On December 13, 2005, Stanley Williams died by lethal injection at San Quentin.
Co-founder of one of the most infamous criminal gangs of all time, the Crips, the former gangster left behind a complicated legacy.
Convicted of four murders, the Louisiana-born man spent two decades on death row.
His sentence became the centre of an international debate on the ethics of capital punishment, with former California governor and Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger appealing for its overturn.
While behind bars, Williams became a successful children’s author, with four Nobel Peace Prizes for anti-gang initiatives.
‘The message is simple: don’t join a gang. All you will find is trouble, pain and sadness. I know. I did,’ he told The Guardian.
Earlonne Woods
Earlonne Woods transferred to San Quentin after seeing a documentary about the prison film school (Picture: Getty Images North America)
Author Earlonne Woods began recording a podcast while incarcerated at San Quentin.
The 52-year-old, who was released from San Quentin in 2018, received an extensive sentence for his crimes under California’s three strikes law.
Because of this law, Woods was sentenced to 31 years to life for a second-degree robbery in 1997, when he was 25 years old.
Woods had two previous convictions for kidnapping and robbing a drug dealer as a juvenile, which he served concurrently.
He had previously been incarcerated at California State Prison, however, he asked for a transfer to San Quentin State when he saw a documentary about a film school at the institution.
Serving the last seven years of his sentence at San Quentin, Woods co-founded the podcast Ear Hustle, which is about prison life and life after incarceration, whilst still in prison.
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