California holds the largest death row population in the United States: 589 people were under condemned sentences as of April 2025, according to the state corrections department. None of them face an execution date. A moratorium signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019 has halted executions for as long as he is in office, the last execution in the state took place in 2006, and the traditional segregated death row at San Quentin is being dismantled. California death row inmates still carry death sentences in full legal force, but those sentences cannot be carried out under current conditions.
Who Is on California’s Death Row Right Now
The 589 condemned inmates reported by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in April 2025 include 18 women.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program – Capital Punishment The population is shrinking. At least 70 people have been resentenced or died since Newsom ordered the dismantlement of the San Quentin death row facility in early 2022, and 2024 alone saw at least 45 people resentenced to life terms or lesser sentences.
CDCR’s summary data shows Black inmates accounting for roughly 33 percent of the condemned population, White inmates about 31 percent, and Mexican-American and Hispanic inmates combined making up about 28 percent, with the remainder from other racial and ethnic groups.2California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Summary – Capital Punishment
Many were sentenced in the 1980s and 1990s, which puts a large share of the population past 50. The aging profile drives rising medical costs and more chronic-disease management inside the prisons that house them.
Why No One Is Being Executed
In March 2019, Governor Newsom signed Executive Order N-09-19. The order granted a reprieve to every person under a death sentence in California, directed CDCR to repeal the state’s lethal injection protocol, and ordered the immediate closure of the execution chamber at San Quentin.3State of California. Executive Order N-09-19
The moratorium does not commute anyone’s sentence. It does not release anyone. Every condemned inmate retains that legal status, and every underlying conviction remains in full effect. If a future governor lifts the moratorium, sentences could in theory be carried out again, but the state would first need to adopt a new execution protocol. California law authorizes execution by lethal injection or, at the inmate’s election, lethal gas.
The last person executed in California was Clarence Ray Allen, who died by lethal injection at San Quentin on January 17, 2006.4California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Executed Inmate Summary – Clarence Ray Allen For nearly two decades since, legal challenges to the lethal injection protocol and now the governor’s moratorium have kept the chamber closed, even as new death sentences continue to be imposed.
Where Condemned Inmates Live Now
For decades, condemned men were held in segregated units at San Quentin and condemned women at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. That arrangement is ending. CDCR is phasing out the segregated death row units at both prisons under the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP), whose permanent regulations took effect on January 31, 2024.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program – Capital Punishment
CITP participants transfer to prisons with at least a Level II security classification and a lethal electrified perimeter fence. Inside those facilities, they live alongside the general population and can access work assignments, rehabilitation programs, and educational opportunities that were unavailable in the old death row housing. Transfers can also place inmates closer to their families.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program – Capital Punishment
California Penal Code Section 3600 requires that every man sentenced to death be delivered to the state prison designated for executions and held there until the sentence is carried out. The same statute, though, allows CDCR to transfer a condemned inmate to any other prison that provides sufficient security, which is the authority the department relies on for CITP.5California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code 3600
Women with death sentences remain at the Central California Women’s Facility but are being placed into appropriate general-population housing throughout the institution rather than in a separate condemned unit.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program – Capital Punishment
Proposition 66, approved by voters in 2016, also requires every condemned inmate to work while in state prison. Seventy percent of any wages or trust account deposits a condemned inmate receives must go toward court-ordered restitution for victims, and that deduction continues until the restitution balance is paid.6California Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 66 Ballot Analysis
What It Takes to Get a Death Sentence in California
A death sentence in California requires a first-degree murder conviction plus a jury finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, of at least one “special circumstance” listed in the Penal Code. Without a special circumstance, the maximum sentence for first-degree murder is 25 years to life.7California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 190.2
Qualifying special circumstances include murder for financial gain, multiple-victim murders, killing a peace officer or other designated official in connection with their duties, killing a witness to prevent or punish testimony, murder committed during a serious felony such as robbery or sexual assault, murder by bomb or poison or while lying in wait, and hate-motivated murder based on the victim’s race, religion, nationality, or similar protected characteristic.
Even when a special circumstance is proven, the jury still chooses between death and life without parole. The prosecution must persuade jurors that aggravating factors outweigh any mitigating evidence, including the defendant’s background, mental health, and role in the crime.7California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 190.2
How People Leave California’s Death Row
With executions on hold, condemned inmates leave death row through other routes. The main ones:
- Resentencing by court order. If an appellate court identifies legal errors in the trial or sentencing, or if a change in the law makes the inmate eligible, a judge can vacate the death sentence and impose a new one, often life without parole. This has driven most of the recent decline in the population.
- Natural death. With average stays measured in decades and an aging population, many condemned inmates die of chronic illness before their appeals finish. This has long been the most common way people leave California’s death row.
- Suicide. A smaller number of deaths over the years have been self-inflicted.
- Exoneration. Nationwide, more than 200 people sentenced to death since 1973 have been exonerated. Reversals typically follow post-conviction DNA testing, recanted testimony, or other newly discovered evidence.
- Executive clemency. The governor can commute a death sentence to life without parole, an authority used sparingly in California.
Why Sentences Sit Unresolved for Decades
Every California death sentence triggers an automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court, whether the defendant wants it or not, and trial counsel is required to continue through the initial appellate stages.8California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code 1239 The direct appeal reviews the trial record for legal errors and constitutional violations. Historically, just getting an appellate attorney appointed took many years.
Proposition 66 tried to speed things up by requiring the direct appeal and state habeas corpus proceedings to finish within five years of sentencing, but courts have treated that as a goal rather than a strict deadline. Habeas petitions, which raise issues outside the trial record such as newly discovered evidence or ineffective assistance of counsel, now start in trial courts rather than going directly to the state Supreme Court, with appointed attorneys required to file within one year of appointment.6California Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 66 Ballot Analysis The Habeas Corpus Resource Center provides state-funded representation for inmates who cannot afford counsel for these proceedings.9Habeas Corpus Resource Center. Habeas Corpus Resource Center
After state proceedings close, a condemned inmate can file a federal habeas petition in U.S. district court, generally within one year of the state court’s final decision.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2244 – Finality of Determination Together, these layers of review commonly stretch across decades, which is a large part of why so many people on California’s death row have been there since the 1980s and 1990s, and why the aging of the population now shapes almost everything about how the system operates day to day.