San Quentin Seen As Hot Property
Even amid the real-estate bust, waterfront property in the San Francisco Bay area is a luxury few can afford. That’s why some California lawmakers want to sell San Quentin State Prison — which houses more than 5,300 inmates on prime land with stunning views of the bay — to developers who might pay as much as $2 billion.
State Sen. Jeff Denham, who has sponsored a bill to sell the complex of historic buildings for private development, thinks the proceeds could help replenish California’s recession-depleted coffers. “I believe maximum-security inmates shouldn’t have waterfront property,” said Mr. Denham, a Republican from Modesto, in the state’s Central Valley. “They could build a new facility somewhere else in the state and it could be done at a fraction of the cost” …
The Corrections Department has studied proposals to sell the prison, said Bob Sleppy, deputy director of the department’s environmental-services branch, but the plans never fully account for the cost and time needed to build new prisons elsewhere.
The Governor has approved a $300 million plan to upgrade the death-row facilities at San Quentin.
San Quentin would get a “Cadillac Death Row” at a time when Californians are struggling with unemployment and housing foreclosures, said Mr. Denham, who supports capital punishment. His bill calls for the prison to be sold to make way for residential and commercial development and for some of the proceeds to go toward building a new death row at another prison …
In 1971, Gov. Ronald Reagan promised to “take the first step toward closing San Quentin” so it could be turned over for development. In 1981, the Legislature’s criminal-justice committee proposed selling it and using the proceeds to help fight crime. And a 2004 report concluded that selling San Quentin would help address “fundamental regional issues such as transportation and housing.” Resistance from other counties and inmate advocates has stymied efforts.
There is much more detail in the article in the Wall Street Journal.