Gov. Jerry Brown has 25 billion reasons for delaying construction of a $356 million death row complex at San Quentin State Prison.
There is little debate over whether death-row inmates -- and guards -- need a safer and more modern facility. The current death row is antiquated and overcrowded, requiring the state to pay a premium for staffing.
We don't think it should be built at San Quentin, where engineering for the site has driven up the estimated cost of construction. We also question whether all the state's condemned inmates need to be housed in one complex. Given the time they spend on death row before they are executed or die of old age, they could be housed at other maximum-security prisons as across the state and returned to San Quentin for their execution.
February 03, 2011
