California’s death row holds roughly 589 people under condemned sentences as of April 2025, but the state has not executed anyone since January 2006.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program2California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Inmates Executed 1978 to Present Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019 executive moratorium blocks every execution for the duration of his time in office, which ends in January 2027. Courts still impose death sentences, appeals still move through the system, and the condemned population still shrinks mostly through resentencing rather than execution. California has the largest death row in the United States, and it is effectively frozen.
The Moratorium That Stopped Executions
Executive Order N-09-19, signed in March 2019, granted a reprieve to every person sentenced to death in California.3State of California. Executive Order N-09-19 It also ordered the immediate closure of the execution chamber at San Quentin and withdrew the state’s lethal injection protocol.4Governor of California. Governor Gavin Newsom Orders a Halt to the Death Penalty in California Both the physical facility and the written procedure needed to carry out a sentence were taken out of service.
The order does not vacate anyone’s conviction and does not overturn any death sentence. Juries can still return death verdicts and trial courts can still impose them. The state simply cannot carry one out while the reprieve stands.
The moratorium came after a split signal from California voters. In November 2016, voters rejected Proposition 62, which would have abolished the death penalty, and approved Proposition 66, which was designed to speed up capital appeals.5Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 66 – Death Penalty Procedures The electorate chose to keep executions and accelerate them. The governor then halted them.
What Happens When Newsom Leaves Office
The executive order has no force beyond Newsom’s term, which ends in January 2027. His successor can leave the reprieves in place, allow them to lapse, or move actively to restart executions. Nothing automatic extends the moratorium.
Restarting executions would not be quick even with political will behind it. The lethal injection protocol has been withdrawn, and adopting a new one requires formal rulemaking that invites litigation. The San Quentin execution chamber was closed, and the prison itself is being converted into the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.6California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center California law still authorizes execution by lethal injection or lethal gas, with lethal injection as the default if the condemned person does not choose.7California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 3604 – Punishment of Death The statute is intact; the operational machinery is not.
Who Is on Death Row
CDCR counted 589 condemned inmates as of April 2025, the first time the population has fallen below 600 in more than two decades.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program The decline comes largely from resentencing, where courts reduce death sentences to life without parole or shorter terms. At least 45 people had their sentences reduced in 2024 alone.
Twenty of the condemned are women, housed at the Central California Women’s Facility.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program The rest are men. Racial disparity in the population is pronounced: Black individuals make up roughly 33% of those sentenced to death in California while representing about 6% of the state’s general population.8California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Summary
Since reinstating capital punishment in 1978, California has executed 13 people. The last was Clarence Ray Allen on January 17, 2006.2California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Inmates Executed 1978 to Present
Where Condemned Inmates Are Housed
For decades, condemned men lived in a segregated unit at San Quentin, confined to their cells roughly 23 hours a day. That is changing. Proposition 66, codified at Penal Code Section 3600, allows CDCR to transfer condemned inmates to other state prisons with adequate security.9California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 3600 – Executing Death Penalty Transferred inmates can work, participate in programming, and live in general population housing. Seventy percent of any money a condemned inmate receives must go toward debts owed to victims.10Secretary of State of California. Proposition 66 Title and Summary and Analysis
If an execution date is ever set, the inmate must be returned to the prison designated for executions.9California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 3600 – Executing Death Penalty Women with death sentences remain in general population at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.
How a Death Sentence Is Imposed
Not every murder is eligible. A death sentence is available only when a defendant is convicted of first-degree murder and the jury finds at least one “special circumstance” from a list of more than 20 in Penal Code Section 190.2.11California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 190.2 – Penalty for First Degree Murder These include killing during a robbery or kidnapping, killing for financial gain, murdering multiple victims, and killing a police officer or firefighter in the line of duty.
A special-circumstance conviction triggers a separate penalty phase. The jury hears evidence about the defendant’s background, mental health, age at the time of the crime, and criminal history, along with anything else bearing on the sentence.12California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 190.3 – Determination of Penalty The jury then chooses between death and life without the possibility of parole. A death verdict must be unanimous.
Why Appeals Take Decades
Every death sentence in California triggers a mandatory appeals pipeline that routinely stretches across decades. This is the main reason the state has produced so few executions despite imposing hundreds of death sentences.
The Automatic Direct Appeal
As soon as a court imposes a death sentence, an appeal is filed automatically with the California Supreme Court. The defendant does not have to request it.13California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1239 – Appeal From Judgment This appeal examines errors visible in the trial record: jury instructions, admitted evidence, prosecutorial conduct, and similar issues. Capital trial records can run tens of thousands of pages, and the direct appeal alone often takes a decade or more.
Habeas Corpus
After or alongside the direct appeal, a condemned person can file a habeas corpus petition raising issues outside the trial record, such as ineffective representation, suppressed evidence, or newly discovered facts. Proposition 66 shifted initial responsibility for appointing habeas counsel and hearing these petitions from the California Supreme Court to the superior courts.14Habeas Corpus Resource Center. What We Do If state relief is denied, the inmate can file a federal habeas petition in U.S. District Court, with potential review by the Ninth Circuit. No execution can occur while any of these proceedings remains pending.
The Lawyer Shortage
Part of the delay is a resource problem. California has historically struggled to appoint qualified attorneys for capital appeals and habeas cases, and many condemned inmates have waited years just to be assigned counsel. Proposition 66 attempted to expand the pool of eligible attorneys and impose time limits, but case volume and complexity have kept the pipeline slow.
Clemency Versus a Reprieve
The governor can commute a death sentence to life without parole, which permanently removes someone from death row. The process involves a formal application, investigation by corrections authorities, and input from victims and other stakeholders.
Newsom’s moratorium is a blanket reprieve, not a commutation. A reprieve delays execution; a commutation changes the sentence itself. The distinction matters for what happens after January 2027. Reprieves tied to the current governor can end when he leaves office. Commutations survive a change in administration. Mass commutation of California’s condemned population has not occurred, which leaves most death-sentenced individuals protected only for as long as the moratorium holds.
The Cost of a System That Does Not Execute
Capital cases are expensive at every stage. They require two defense attorneys per defendant instead of one, jury selection takes far longer because potential jurors must be individually questioned about their views on the death penalty, and the trials themselves run several times longer than comparable non-capital murder trials. Housing condemned inmates in specialized death row units has historically cost more than general population incarceration because of heightened security and single-cell confinement.
Researchers have estimated that California’s death penalty system has cost taxpayers roughly $4 billion more than a system in which life without parole was the maximum sentence. The transfer program moving condemned inmates into general population may reduce some housing costs, but the legal expenses of appeals and habeas proceedings continue regardless of whether anyone is executed. Thirteen executions since 1978, 589 condemned inmates today, and a frozen chamber at San Quentin describe the shape of the system the next governor will inherit.