Today's Contra Costa Times reports, "Huffman, Leno seek to quash death row expansion." It's written by Rob Rogers.
Marin's legislative representatives say they'll fight another effort by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to expand the death row complex at San Quentin State Prison.A Schwarzenegger spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the governor plans to issue a $64 million loan from the pooled money investment account - part of the state's general fund - to begin work on a $356 million project to expand California's only facility for condemned prisoners.
"The bottom line is that this is a project the Legislature approved in 2003, and the longer we delay it, the higher the costs are going to go," said spokesman H.D. Palmer, who said the state would begin seeking bids for the project during the first week of October and expected to begin construction by November.
The proposal came under immediate attack by Assemblyman Jared Huffman and state Sen. Mark Leno, both of whom have repeatedly opposed the governor's efforts to expand the facility.
"I think it's rather reckless, given the unstable state of our general fund, and at a time when we are slashing education, social services and health care, to grab general fund dollars and potentially put our general fund at risk," said Leno, D-San Francisco. "And I can't imagine Californians thinking that rebuilding the death row of San Quentin is a more important expenditure than our children's education."
The governor vetoed a Huffman-proposed bill passed by the Legislature last year that would have required the state to address several questions - such as how the new facility would address the problem of overcrowding at the prison - before issuing the bonds necessary to pay for the expansion of the death row complex.
And:
The state Department of Corrections received $220 million in bond financing for the project during the 2003-04 fiscal year, and had spent about $20 million by 2006, when state finance officials determined the cost of the expansion was escalating beyond expectations. The governor requested an additional $136 million in bond financing in 2008 - a proposal that was opposed by the state Legislative Analyst's Office, which argued that the department had failed to address important questions about the project.
In particular, the office questioned why the housing costs proposed for San Quentin were triple those of a similar project built at Kern Valley State Prison near Delano in 2005. The office also suggested that building the death row expansion would increase the capacity of San Quentin beyond its agreed-upon limit of 6,558 prisoners - leaving the prison with the option of violating its capacity limits or leaving expensive beds empty.
"As currently planned, this will be most expensive prison ever built in this country, at over $500,000 per bed," Leno said. "The LAO has repeatedly stated that this can be rebuilt elsewhere for significant savings. The question has to be asked: why is this such a priority for him (Schwarzenegger)?"
The expansion proposal comes at a time when several state officials - including Schwarzenegger himself in May 2009 - have suggested closing the 158-year-old prison to help eliminate the state's budget deficit. Attorney General Jerry Brown, who is running for governor, made a similar proposal earlier this month.
The state has already spent more than $164 million on new medical facilities and $850,000 for a new lethal injection room within the death row complex. The prison currently houses about 690 inmates in a death row complex built for 554.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise notes the death of a California Death Row inmate, "'Angel of Death' dies in prison," by Richard De Atley.
Robert R. Diaz, the "Angel of Death" nurse convicted of killing a dozen of his patients in Riverside County, died of natural causes Wednesday, 26 years after he was sent to San Quentin's Death Row.
He was 72.
Mr. Diaz died at a community hospital near the prison, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton said. He had a lengthy illness. No other details were released.
In an era of bizarre serial killing cases in California, Mr. Diaz's was one of the most unusual. His victims, ages 52 to 95, all had to be exhumed; he shunned a jury trial on his attorney's advice; and a challenge to his closed-to-the-public preliminary hearing resulted in a major First Amendment decision by the Supreme Court.
And this statistical note:
Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, 51 death-row inmates have died from natural causes, 17 committed suicide, 13 were executed in California and one was executed in Missouri. Five have died from other causes and one cause of death is pending. Of the 706 inmates on death row, 68 are from Riverside County.
Earlier coverage from California on lethal injection regulations, cost, and geographic disparity -- aka, prosecutorial discretion -- at the links.
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