Everything about San Quentin totally explained
San Quentin State Prison is located on 432 acres (1.7 km²) on Point Quentin in
Marin County,
California,
United States, north of
San Francisco. San Quentin State Prison was opened in July
1852, and is the oldest
prison in California.
The state's male
death row is located at San Quentin, as well as its only
gas chamber. In recent years, however, the gas chamber has been used to carry out
lethal injections.
Current facility
The prison occupies 275 acres of waterfront land overlooking the bay and is estimated to be worth $80 to $100 million, making it the most valuable prison in the world.
It has its own
ZIP Code, 94974; the surrounding area is 94964. It is bordered by the water of the
San Francisco Bay to the south and east and by
Interstate 580, just after it crosses the bay on the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
San Quentin has the only on-site college degree-granting program in California's entire prison system, run by the
Prison University Project.
History
Although numerous towns and localities in the area (and in California generally) are named for Roman Catholic
saints, and "San Quintín" is Spanish for "
Saint Quentin", the prison isn't in fact named after the saint. The land on which it's situated, Point Quentin, is named after a
Coast Miwok warrior named Quintín, fighting under
Chief Marin, who was taken prisoner at that place.
In 1851, California's first prison opened; it was "a 268-ton wooden ship named The Waban, anchored in San Francisco Bay and outfitted to hold 30 inmates." Subsequently, inmates who were housed on the Waban constructed San Quentin which "opened in 1852 with 68 inmates." The prison held both male and female inmates until 1932 when the
original California Institution for Women prison at
Tehachapi was built.
In 1941 the first prison meeting of
Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this, the 25-millionth copy of the A.A. "Big Book" was presented to Jill Brown, of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The use of torture as "an approved method of interrogation" at San Quentin was banned in 1944.
On
February 24,
1969,
Johnny Cash played a live concert,
At San Quentin, for the prison inmates. The concert was released as an album and was filmed by
Granada Television.
In
2003,
Metallica filmed the video for the song
St. Anger inside San Quentin, playing to enthusiastic inmates. In 2007, as part of their World-wide tour,
Michael Franti and Spearhead played a show for almost the entire prison population.
On 18 November 2006 the hip-hop group
Flipsyde had a concert in the prison, which wasn't open for the public.
Notable current inmates
Notable former inmates
Clarence Ray Allen - Convicted for ordering the strangulation of Mary Sue Kitts and the shotgun killing of Bryon Schletewitz and seven others (others were not killed). Executed on January 17, 2006.
Jesse James Hollywood - Arrested for the kidnapping and second-degree murder of Nicholas Markowitz. After being on the run for five years he was arrested in Brazil living in a beach town. He is currently on trial and if found guilty he faces the death penalty.
Charles Bolles, alias Black Bart, an American Old West outlaw.
Charles Manson - Leader of the Manson family. Transferred to Corcoran State Prison in 1989. (External Link
)
S. S. Millard - Exploitation filmmaker
James Mitose - Japanese American martial artist who brought the art of Kenpo to the United States starting in the late 1930s.
Wallace Fard Muhammad - Founder of the Nation of Islam.
Louise Peete - Convicted murderess, executed in the gas chamber on 11 April 1947.
Abe Ruef - San Francisco political boss, for bribery
Sirhan Sirhan - Assassin of Robert F. Kennedy. Was sent to Death Row at San Quentin in May 1969. After the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, Sirhan was transferred to Correctional Training Facility. He is currently at Corcoran State Prison.
Danny Trejo - Actor.
Chester Turner - serial killer convicted of killing 10 women in Los Angeles
Stanley Tookie Williams - Convicted murderer & early leader of the Crips street gang. Author and cause celebre. Executed by lethal injection on December 13, 2005.
In popular culture
Underaged girls have sometimes been referred to as "San Quentin Quail", on the assumption that violators of California's minor protection laws could end up there. In the 1940 Marx Brothers film Go West Groucho Marx plays a character named "S. Quentin Quale". There was also a 1946 Warner Brothers cartoon featuring a quail named and titled Quentin Quail. (External Link)
Two films were made with the title of San Quentin. The first, made in 1937, was directed by Lloyd Bacon. It starred Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, and Ann Sheridan. It was filmed at the prison. The second, made in 1946, starred Lawrence Tierney.
House of Numbers, a 1957 film noir, depicts two brothers (both played by Jack Palance) in a plot to break out of San Quentin. One of Alfredo Santos' murals is shown during the scenes in the cafeteria.
1958's I Want To Live! depicted the story of Barbara Graham, who was executed in San Quentin's gas chamber. It was directed by Robert Wise and starred Susan Hayward.
In 1993 a movie titled Blood In Blood Out, which was based on Mexican / Prison gang warfare in Southern California, was filmed in parts at the prison.
In the movie Heathers the character Veronica, after realizing that she'd helped her boyfriend murder a high school classmate mutters that she doesn't know whether her college application should be sent to Stanford or San Quentin.
MythBusters visited San Quentin in a 2005 episode to conduct research about a paper crossbow.
The character Quentin in Cube is named after San Quentin.
Lawrence Taylor's character in, Quentin Sands is named after San Quentin.
a 2008 BBC documentary that explores the relationships between prisoners and their guards.
In NaS's track Life's A Bitch from his acclaimed record Illmatic, AZ mentioned it in his verse: » Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
Through the summer, groups of local, amateur baseball players gain access to the prison yard and play against the inmates in weekly games. Appropriately, the team of prisoners is called the "Giants" in honor of the San Francisco Giants, who donated old uniforms to the team. The team of outside players is called the "Willing". The only non-prisoners on the field are the opposing team--even the umpires are inmates and the only guards nearby are in the adjacent tower. These games were detailed in a Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel episode on June 20, 2006.
Metallica's "St. Anger" video was shot at the prison in 2003.
In the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You, Patrick Verona was rumored to have recently spent a year in San Quentin.
Tupac Shakur lists San Quentin as one of the places to which the song "Hold Ya Head" from is dedicated to.
Music legend Johnny Cash performed a concert for inmates at San Qeuntin in 1969. The performance was recorded and released later that year as an album entitled "Johnny Cash at San Quentin". The concert was also filmed by a UK television channel.Further Information
Get more info on 'San Quentin'.
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