About 20 women are under a sentence of death in California as of early 2026, roughly 3 percent of the state’s 578 condemned individuals.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP) – Capital Punishment All of them are held at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. None face an imminent execution: the state has not put anyone to death since 2006, and a gubernatorial moratorium signed in March 2019 blocks any from being carried out while it remains in place.2Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Executive Order N-09-19
The number has been drifting downward as individual cases are resolved through resentencing rather than through executions. At least 45 people were resentenced off California’s death row statewide in 2024 alone.
How Many Women Are on California’s Death Row
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports 20 death-sentenced women at CCWF.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP) – Capital Punishment Many have been there for more than twenty years, a reflection of how slowly California’s capital appeals move. A large share of the underlying cases involve the deaths of family members, and children in particular, and most drew heavy media coverage at the time of trial.
Cases That Illustrate the Population
Maria del Rosio Alfaro was sentenced to death for the 1990 murder of nine-year-old Autumn Wallace during a residential burglary. A jury convicted her of first-degree murder, residential burglary, and residential robbery.3FindLaw. People v. Alfaro Her case remains active on the CDCR condemned inmate list as of March 2026.4California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate List
Socorro Caro received a death sentence for the 1999 shooting deaths of her three sons, ages 11, 8, and 5, who were killed in their sleep. A jury convicted her on three counts of first-degree murder in 2001, and the California Supreme Court unanimously upheld the conviction and sentence on appeal.
Susan Eubanks was originally sentenced to death in 1999 for killing her four sons, ages 14, 7, 6, and 4, in October 1997.5FindLaw. People v. Eubanks In October 2024, a San Diego County Superior Court judge resentenced her to life without parole after the San Diego District Attorney’s Office used prosecutor-initiated resentencing to resolve her case, closing out her pending federal and appellate petitions in the process.6DA NewsCenter. Murderer Resentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole Her removal from death row is a concrete example of what has been happening across the state.
Where They Live and What Their Days Look Like
Every condemned woman in the state is housed at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, in Madera County. The prison holds roughly 4,000 incarcerated people in total and operates a skilled nursing facility on site, which has become more relevant as some condemned women reach their sixties and seventies.7California Correctional Health Care Services. CCHCS Fact Sheet
For years, condemned women lived in a segregated unit. That ended with the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program, which grew out of Proposition 66. Voters approved Prop 66 in 2016 primarily to speed up death penalty appeals, but it also allowed condemned inmates to be housed at any state prison instead of in designated death row units.8Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 66 – Death Penalty Procedures Initiative Statute
Under the transfer program, CDCR moved all condemned women at CCWF into general population housing.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP) – Capital Punishment They now have access to educational and vocational programming, work assignments, and ordinary social contact that were off-limits before. Participants are required to hold jobs inside the facility. Day to day, their lives resemble those of other women serving life sentences, even though the legal label on their sentence has not changed.
Why No One Is Being Executed
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-09-19 in March 2019, imposing a moratorium on all executions in California and granting a reprieve to every condemned person in the state.2Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Executive Order N-09-19 The order does not release anyone, reduce any sentence, or vacate any conviction. It only prevents the state from carrying out executions while it stands.
As part of the same action, workers physically dismantled the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison, and the state withdrew its lethal injection protocols.9Governor of California. Governor Gavin Newsom Orders a Halt to the Death Penalty in California
What Changes After Newsom Leaves Office
The moratorium lasts only as long as the sitting governor chooses to maintain it. Newsom’s term ends in January 2027, and a successor could reverse the order. Even then, resuming executions would not be quick. California’s execution protocols were found unlawful years before the moratorium, so the state would need to write new procedures from scratch, and any new protocol would almost certainly face fresh legal challenges. For the women at CCWF, what happens to the moratorium after 2027 is the single biggest variable in their future.
How Women Leave Death Row Without Being Executed
A California death sentence is not necessarily permanent. Three mechanisms have been doing most of the work in recent years.
Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing
A district attorney can ask a court to resentence a condemned person when doing so serves the interest of justice. This is the mechanism the San Diego District Attorney used in Susan Eubanks’s case, converting her death sentence to life without parole in October 2024.6DA NewsCenter. Murderer Resentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole The process often resolves outstanding federal appeals and state habeas petitions in the same proceeding, which is part of why prosecutors have found it useful. District attorneys in several counties have been systematically reviewing death-eligible cases to identify candidates.
The California Racial Justice Act
Penal Code Section 745, enacted in 2020 and made retroactive in 2022, lets a defendant challenge a conviction or sentence by showing that race, ethnicity, or national origin influenced the outcome. Statistical evidence can satisfy the burden, including showing that prosecutors in a given county more frequently sought death sentences against people of a certain race who committed similar crimes.10California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 745
Once a court finds a violation, the prosecution can no longer seek the death penalty in that case, and the court must vacate the sentence and order new proceedings.10California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 745 The defendant does not have to prove the bias actually changed the jury’s verdict, only that it existed. Because the law applies retroactively, women sentenced years or decades ago can file claims under it. The full impact on the condemned population is still unfolding.
Executive Clemency
The governor has sole authority to commute a death sentence to a lesser term, with one major restriction. If the condemned person has been convicted of a felony more than once, the governor cannot grant clemency without a recommendation from the California Supreme Court, with at least four justices concurring. Because many condemned women have prior felony convictions, clemency is a narrow path in practice. No governor has used the commutation power to remove a woman from California’s death row in the modern era.