California Gov. Gavin Newsom Announces $20 Million Plan to Transform San Quentin Prison

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state's oldest correctional institution, San Quentin State Prison, will be transformed, focusing on rehabilitation.

Newson's office announced Thursday that inmates serving prison sentences would be transferred elsewhere in the state penitentiary system, and almost 100 were already being moved, Fox News reported.

California has 668 prisoners facing death sentences. San Quentin State Prison will reportedly be renamed and called San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, which would provide less-dangerous prisoners with education, training, and rehabilitation.

Newsom said in a statement that California will be taking the next step in its "pursuit of true rehabilitation, justice, and safer communities" through the California Model for safety and justice, which is evidence-backed.

Newsom referred to Norway's approach and model for the justice system as an inspiration to the state's model for rehabilitation.

The California governor is expected to visit San Quentin on Friday, wherein he will share more about the details of the rehabilitation.

California's San Quentin State Prison Transformation

San Quentin will be made into a center focused on rehabilitation and education to improve public safety and reduce repeat offender rates in the state. It is known to be one of the country's maximum-security prisons.

The plan will have an allotted budget of $20 million and be renamed San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Newsom told reporters in a press conference that they want to be the preeminent restorative justice facility in the world, ABC News Go reported.

The governor will allocate $20 million in his 2023 to 2024 budget proposal, which the state legislature will vote on. Newsom said the goal is to have the rehabilitation plan in place by 2025.

Newsom noted that he acknowledges the difficulty of putting the plan into action, but they are acting with "a sense of urgency and a sense of intentionality."

Other facilities in California's state prison system, as well as in Oregon, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania, adopted the same model that Norway uses for its prison system.

The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, an advocacy group aiming to end mass incarceration, called California's plan a "massive move towards rehabilitation."

Newsom said the plan was also based on other rehabilitation programs in San Quentin known for accredited liberal arts programs.

San Quentin State Prison

Currently, the facility has various inmate programs such as furniture manufacturing, mattress manufacturing, machine shop, plumbing, computer literacy, electronics, and building machine.

It also offers adult basic education, high school diploma, transitions pe-release, literacy program, distance learning for associate, and bachelor degree programs.

The institution is California's oldest and most well-known correctional institution. It was first established as Point San Quentin in July 1852 to address the "rampant lawlessness" in the state during that time.

San Quentin used to house both male and female inmates until 1933, when the women's prison at Tehachapi was constructed.

The San Quentin website noted that the facility provides outpatient and inpatient mental health services for patients with serious mental disorders.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: California Gov. Gavin Newsom Announces Historic Transformation of San Quentin State Prison - From ABC7 News Bay Area