San Quentin Prison: California Model, Visiting, and Contact

San Quentin Prison, now officially the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, is California’s oldest correctional institution, built in July 1852 on Point San Quentin in Marin County, about 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.¹ It sits on 432 acres overlooking San Francisco Bay and currently houses people at Level I, II, and III custody designations. In 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the facility would be renamed and reimagined around rehabilitation, and in early 2026 an 80,000-square-foot learning complex opened as the most visible result of that shift.²

Who Is Housed at San Quentin Now

San Quentin currently holds people classified at Level I, II, and III custody.¹ Custody designation sets where someone is housed, how closely staff supervise them, and what programs and movement they have access to.³ Classification runs on a placement score built from factors like criminal history, sentence length, and behavior while incarcerated: a lower score means fewer restrictions.⁴

For decades San Quentin was the only California facility that held men sentenced to death. That is no longer true. In March 2019, Governor Newsom signed an executive order imposing a moratorium on executions and closing the death chamber.⁵ CDCR then moved everyone with a death sentence out of East Block and into general population housing at other institutions under the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program. As of late 2025, the transfers from East Block were complete. Nine people with condemned sentences remained at San Quentin only because they were receiving treatment in the Psychiatric Inpatient Program or Correctional Treatment Center, and they will transfer when discharged.⁶ Future condemned individuals will be processed and sent to other facilities. The moratorium did not commute sentences or release anyone.

The California Model and the New Learning Center

The name change from State Prison to Rehabilitation Center was part of a broader plan Newsom announced in March 2023, called the California Model, that puts education, job training, and behavioral health at the center of daily operations.⁷ The San Quentin Learning Center opened in early 2026 at a cost of $239 million, funded by a lease revenue bond, and nearly triples the classroom and programming space at the facility.²

The complex has four interconnected buildings. Building A holds a technology and media center with coding classrooms, podcast studios, and a reentry center on the ground floor. Building B is the education hub, with classrooms for high school and college coursework offered in partnership with Cal State LA, UC Berkeley, and Mount Tamalpais College, plus an expanded library. Building C has a multipurpose hall, café, store, and outdoor classrooms overlooking the Bay. Building D handles security processing for staff and volunteers coming into the complex.⁸

Education and Job Training

Mount Tamalpais College is the facility’s main academic program. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and is the only accredited college dedicated solely to educating incarcerated people, offering an Associate of Arts degree.⁹

CDCR also runs Career Technical Education programs at San Quentin that teach trades with real post-release job prospects. Programs run 6 to 18 months and lead to industry-recognized certifications. CDCR reviews its training lineup each year to focus on trades that pay a livable wage.¹⁰

Visiting Someone at San Quentin

The approval process starts with the incarcerated person, not you. They have to sign a Visitor Questionnaire (CDCR Form 106) and send it to you. You complete your part and submit it back for a background check. You cannot get the form yourself; it has to come from them, already signed.¹¹ The Ombudsman’s office estimates review takes about four to six weeks, depending on volume and staffing. Once you are approved, the incarcerated person is notified and tells you.¹²

After approval, you book your visit through the Visitation Scheduling Application, which works on a computer, phone, or tablet.¹³ Bring valid government-issued ID. What you can carry inside is limited: a clear plastic bag no larger than roughly 6 by 8 inches, up to $100 in cash as an adult or $50 for a minor (bills, dollar coins, and quarters only), a comb or brush, up to ten photographs, and a few other small personal items. Anything not on the approved list stays outside.¹⁴

Dress Code

CDCR enforces a strict dress code so visitors are not mistaken for incarcerated people or staff. No blue denim of any kind. No orange or lime green clothing. No grey denim. No camouflage or military-style attire. Sweatshirts, sweatpants, and jogging suits are also prohibited. Clothing cannot be transparent or overly revealing, and open-toe shoes are not allowed. Black denim is fine as long as it is clearly distinguishable from blue. Show up in something on the prohibited list and you will be turned away.

Video Visits

People with tablets qualify for 15 minutes of free video calls every two weeks. Weekend video visiting ended at adult institutions in July 2023, though conservation camps still offer it on Saturdays and Sundays.¹⁵

Phone Calls, Video, and Messaging

CDCR provides tablets and phone access, with costs covered by a mix of personal trust account funds and state-funded allowances. As of early 2026, the department is transitioning its communications vendor from ViaPath to Securus, and the new contract lowers rates.

Under the Securus contract, electronic messages cost $0.03 each, down from $0.05 under ViaPath. Each incarcerated person receives 20 free e-messages per month, up from five per week. Phone calls run $0.016 per minute under Securus compared to $0.019 under ViaPath, with CDCR covering the cost rather than the person on the outside. Free video call time increases from 15 minutes every two weeks to 30 minutes per month.¹⁶

Sending Money

You have three ways to deposit money into an incarcerated person’s trust account. The fastest is an electronic transfer through one of three approved vendors: GTL/ConnectNetwork, JPay, or Access Corrections. Electronic transfers carry a service fee and usually post within one to three business days.¹⁷

To skip the fee, mail a money order, personal check, or cashier’s check to the JPay lock box in Los Angeles, made payable to JPay. The maximum per deposit is $999.99, and personal checks are held 10 business days before funds post. The third option is mailing a check or money order directly to the institution, made payable to CDCR with the incarcerated person’s name and CDCR number on it. No fee, but a 30-day hold.¹⁷

One thing that catches families off guard: if the person owes a court-ordered restitution fine, CDCR takes 50 percent of every deposit (or the remaining balance owed, whichever is less) before they see it. A 10 percent administrative fee is added on top, so up to 55 percent of a deposit can come off before the money reaches the trust account.¹⁷ The deduction applies no matter where the money came from.

Medical and Mental Health Care

San Quentin runs one of CDCR’s licensed Psychiatric Inpatient Programs, which provides intensive treatment for people who cannot stabilize in outpatient care or in shorter inpatient settings.¹⁸ The facility also operates a Correctional Treatment Center that sits between outpatient services and the full inpatient program. Those units are where the last few people with death sentences remain, pending discharge and transfer elsewhere.⁶

Mailing Address and Contact

The facility’s mailing address is San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, San Quentin, CA 94974.¹ On any mail or payment, always include the full name and CDCR number of the person you are sending to. For visiting questions, the CDCR Ombudsman’s office and the visiting page on the CDCR website are the most reliable places to start.

1
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center
2
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin Learning Center
3
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 15 3377.1 – Incarcerated Person Custody Designations
4
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 15 3375 – Classification Process
5
Governor of California. Executive Order N-09-19
6
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program – Capital Punishment
7
Governor of California. Governor Newsom Announces Historic Transformation of San Quentin
8
Governor of California. Governor Newsom Transforms San Quentin, Opens Nation-Leading Learning Center
9
Mount Tamalpais College. Accreditation
10
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Career and Technical Education Programs – Division of Rehabilitative Programs
11
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. How to Get Approved to Visit an Incarcerated Person
12
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Visiting Information – Office of the Ombudsman
13
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. How to Schedule a Visit Using Visitation Scheduling Application
14
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Items a Visitor May Bring
15
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In-Person Visiting Frequently Asked Questions
16
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Tablets and Telephones – Family and Friends Services
17
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Sending Money
18
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Mental Health Program