Gov. Newsom forgoes safety in a $239 million entertainment project at San Quentin Prison

The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQRC) was formally known as the San Quentin State Prison until California Governor Newsom adopted the prison as his pet project to show making inmates happy will lead to better outcomes. Despite the proven failure of the “California Model” of prison management, implemented by Newsom, CDCR will spend more money and sacrifice safety to make SQRC a more entertaining place to live for the incarcerated population.

Gov. Newsom enlisted Schmidt Hammer Lassen and DLR Group to add new aesthetically pleasing amenities to SQRC. New buildings and entertainment options for the inmates have been ordered by the Governor with no consideration regarding staff or inmate safety. It is important to remember despite Newsom forcing less desirable inmates out of SQRC, the prison still has its fair share of inmate on staff attacks and attempted murders.

Lori Coppenrath is DLR Group’s Justice + Civic Planning Leader. She said the design for San Quentin “departs from conventional prison architecture through an open, flexible campus layout, emulating a community college environment, and increased connections between the built environment and nature.”

“This close resemblance to education spaces outside the correctional institution is part of the Nordic model’s normalization principle,” added Jette Birkeskov Mogensen, a senior project manager at SHL. “This will break down the institutional feel, introduce a human scale, and signal a new openness.”

A new campus at the SQRC will cost $239 million to construct and will include 28 classrooms, a media center, tech space, multipurpose rooms, and a library. It will have a store, cafe, a central plaza, courtyards, and space for social gatherings.

Newsom is spending millions on making the SQRC a more entertaining place to live for the inmates after his administration agreed to cut the state’s correctional officer pay for the next two years, using what Newsom described as a budget crisis to justify the reduction in the officer’s salaries.

The $239 project also includes designs directly intended to reduce the safety of both the staff and inmates. Part of the design includes purposely built private nooks, shared bathroom for staff and inmate use, forty-five trees to provide concealment, and the ability for the inmates to follow several pathways to the café and library. Most impactful is the complete removal of the prison’s South wall to make room for the inmate entertainment center.

The CDCR has taken several steps to reduce safety and security in its prison system through the “California Model” of prison management. The California Model was executed with no criminological science and is not based on any existing prison management models. CDCR and Gov. Newsom’s office has spread much misinformation regarding the California Model including the lie that it was based on the Norway Model. In effect, the California Model places inmate happiness as a priority in all decisions while sacrificing safety. Staff attacks and inmate murders have increased after the forced implementation of the California Model.