|
CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRESS ROOM | |
| http://www.cjcj.org/index.php |
| Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 1622 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 | Tel: (415) 621-5661 | Fax: (415) 621-5466 |
SACRAMENTO - California is building a new $220 million death row at San Quentin State Prison based on an incomplete analysis of alternate locations and project costs, the state auditor said Tuesday.
The current condemned unit at the state's oldest prison doesn't meet current standards for maximum-security facilities, creating escape risks and dangers for employees and inmates, state Auditor Elaine Howle said.
But the Department of Corrections didn't thoroughly examine all its alternatives and costs before deciding to build a replacement facility, the audit concluded. The unit is set for completion in 2007 and will house male condemned inmates.
Corrections spokeswoman Margot Bach welcomed auditors' conclusion that a new facility was needed, but disagreed that the department didn't adequately review its options.
The department considered other existing prisons before deciding they weren't acceptable mostly because they're too far from major cities, auditors said, but didn't consider building a new facility other than at San Quentin itself. Nor did they take into account the much higher operating and maintenance costs in the San Francisco Bay area.
Because of the incomplete information, Howle said auditors can't say if San Quentin is the best place for the new death row.
The department has been criticized for chronically exceeding its budget often by hundreds of millions of dollars, though much of that has been because of higher than anticipated personnel costs like sick leave, overtime and salary increases under a controversial union contract.
Both the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst opposed the replacement project, but it was supported by inmate advocates and attorneys because San Quentin has easy access to state and federal courts.
Several prisons are expected to be closed because of a new parole policy that is projected to trim the population of the nation's largest prison system by 15,000 inmates. But new Corrections Director Jeanne S. Woodford, formerly San Quentin's warden, in an Associated Press interview Thursday, said her old prison will likely remain open.
The San Francisco area needs a prison to serve as an intake center for 17 counties, and a state law names San Quentin as the location of the state's death row. Nor have other counties been lobbying to host executions.
But the state audit revives criticism by some state legislators, developers and Marin County officials that the Bay-side location is more valuable for other uses.
The state could sell the property for as much as $337 million and help Marin County with its housing and transportation needs, the audit said.
"I'm sure Marin County would love to have it," said Bach. However, "any money we would make from selling it to Marin County, it would cost us more to move it to someplace else."
A state study in 2001 calculated the prison grounds could be worth $665 million if developed for housing. However, the study concluded it would cost more than $800 million to build the two new prisons it would take to replace San Quentin.
Auditors acknowledged there would be additional costs as well as opposition from communities like Folsom, where the department had once sought to move condemned inmates to California State Prison-Sacramento.
Studies on closing or moving San Quentin go back at least 20 years. But officials have spent millions fixing up San Quentin in recent years.
The current condemned unit was built in 1934 to handle 68 inmates. More than 600 men are on death row now, mostly housed in two other buildings originally intended for regular prisoners. The new unit will house 1,000 inmates in a high-security design, though the execution chamber itself will remain in its current location.
| This site and its contents © 2002 Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice |