California is set to transform San Quentin State Prison into a Scandinavian-style rehabilitation center, a project estimated to cost $239 million. The overhaul will introduce features like a farmers market, a podcast production studio, and a self-service grocery store. The renovation aims to create a more rehabilitative environment, inspired by the Nordic incarceration model, which focuses on preparing inmates for reintegration into society.
Construction is expected to be completed by January 2026, with the first inmates using the revamped facility shortly after. The transformation was initiated by Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared a moratorium on executions and began dismantling Death Row shortly after his election in 2018. The prison population will be reduced from 3,400 to about 2,400 as inmates are transferred to other facilities.
The Newsom administration has partnered with Danish architecture firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen to reimagine the prison with influences from Scandinavian systems, where detention centers are designed to resemble life outside prison. The advisory council, which includes criminal justice experts and prison reform advocates, recommended numerous changes, including making good nutrition a core part of the San Quentin experience through gardening and a farmers market with external vendors.
The new design aims to reduce recidivism by focusing on rehabilitation through work and education, a model pioneered in Norway in the 1990s. The project has sparked debate, with some calling the updates inappropriate, but it reflects a broader trend of prison reform efforts in the United States.
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