Yes, San Quentin prison is still open. In March 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom renamed it the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and launched a sweeping conversion of California’s oldest prison from a maximum-security facility into something closer to a college campus focused on education and reentry.1Governor of California. Governor Newsom Announces Historic Transformation of San Quentin State Prison The facility still houses thousands of incarcerated men, still sits on the same waterfront point in Marin County it has occupied since 1852, and still operates under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. What has changed is nearly everything about its stated purpose.
What the 2023 Renaming Actually Changed
The rebranding reflects a statewide policy shift CDCR calls the California Model, an effort to move the prison system’s culture from punitive to rehabilitative.2California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The California Model San Quentin was chosen to pilot the approach because of its notoriety. State officials have framed the logic simply: if the transformation works at California’s most infamous prison, it can work anywhere.
In practice, the site still has walls and razor wire, but daily life is increasingly organized around classrooms, job training, and structured reentry planning rather than lockdowns and yard time.
Death Row at San Quentin Has Ended
For decades, San Quentin housed every male death row prisoner in California, making it home to the largest condemned population in the country. That era is over. The execution chamber was closed in 2019 when Governor Newsom signed Executive Order N-09-19, which imposed a moratorium on the death penalty and ordered the gas chamber chair removed and the lethal injection facility shut down.3State of California. Executive Order N-09-19
Condemned inmates initially stayed put. The physical relocations came later through the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program, which moves death-sentenced individuals into general population housing at other state prisons ranging from Pelican Bay in the far north to Calipatria near the Mexican border. As of October 2025, CDCR reported 580 people in its custody with condemned sentences.4California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program
One point worth being clear about: the transfers change nothing about anyone’s legal status. CDCR has no authority to resentence anyone, and moving condemned individuals does not alter their sentences or affect pending appeals.4California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program Transferred individuals are designated “Close Custody” for a minimum of five years and must be placed at institutions with electrified secured perimeters. California Penal Code Section 3600 still governs the housing of condemned persons.5California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code 3600 – Executing Death Penalty California’s death penalty remains on the books; San Quentin’s role in carrying it out does not.
Who Is Incarcerated There Now
San Quentin has a design capacity of 3,084 and currently houses men classified at security Levels I, II, and III, along with populations receiving Enhanced Outpatient and Correctional Clinical Case Management System mental health services.6California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center The mix reflects the facility’s transitional status as it moves away from its former maximum-security role.
The advisory council overseeing the transformation has recommended reducing the population from its recent level of over 3,400 to between 2,200 and 2,600 by eliminating mandatory double-celling and converting to single-occupancy cells.7California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Reimagining San Quentin – Recommendations to Transform San Quentin State Prison Into a Rehabilitation Center The council also recommended that roughly 25 to 35 percent of residents continue to be people serving life sentences, and urged that lifers not be forcibly transferred out during the transition. Residents are increasingly selected based on their eligibility for the educational and vocational programming the facility now emphasizes.
The Learning Center and Programs Inside
The centerpiece of the physical transformation is the 80,000-square-foot San Quentin Learning Center, whose ribbon-cutting took place on February 20, 2026, with full operations expected to begin that spring.8California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin Learning Center Built in 18 months, the complex has four buildings: a technology and media center with coding classrooms, podcast studios, and a reentry center on the ground level; a building housing a full library, classrooms, and administrative offices; a gathering space with a multipurpose room, café, store, and outdoor learning area; and a security processing building for staff and volunteer entry.
The total budget for the broader transformation sits at roughly $380 million, funded primarily through a $360 million lease revenue bond plus $20 million from the state’s general fund.9Governor of California. Governor Newsom Transforms San Quentin, Opens Nation-Leading Learning Center
Programming was already substantial before the Learning Center opened. The Last Mile, a coding initiative, has run a computer classroom at San Quentin since 2014, with the California Prison Industry Authority partnering to host employer visits on-site.10California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Employers Visit CALPIA, Last Mile at San Quentin Mount Tamalpais College, formerly the Prison University Project, has operated at San Quentin since 1996 and remains the only on-site, degree-granting college program within California’s prison system, offering humanities, math, and social and physical science courses taught by professors and graduate students from Bay Area institutions.11National Endowment for the Humanities. Prison University Project San Quentin also hosts Ear Hustle, the award-winning podcast produced inside the facility’s media lab.
What Is Still Ahead
The advisory council of state and international rehabilitation experts convened by Governor Newsom submitted its report to CDCR in January 2024.12California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Report to Transform San Quentin Submitted to CDCR Its overarching principle is that daily life at San Quentin should resemble the outside community as closely as possible, including the way staff and residents interact. The report calls for all prison staff to receive training, incentives, and a professional obligation to actively support rehabilitation rather than simply maintaining order.
Whether that cultural shift takes root is the biggest open question. Building a Learning Center takes 18 months. Changing how correctional officers see their jobs takes considerably longer. The physical transformation is well underway. The institutional one is still early.