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Newsom Unveils $239 Million San Quentin Learning Center Focused on Rehabilitation

Newsom casts the reimagined campus as a public-safety investment focused on education for reentry.

Overview

  • The 81,000-square-foot complex comprises three interconnected buildings devoted to technology and media, classroom education, and community and workforce programming.
  • It features a café, recording studios, reading areas, and indoor and outdoor classrooms with views of the San Francisco Bay.
  • Built over 18 months, the center marks the first completed phase of a larger transformation of the 174-year-old site now branded around rehabilitation.
  • Further work is underway, including new housing construction, expanded recreation spaces, and installation of art projects.
  • Context for the shift includes Newsom’s 2019 suspension of the death penalty and a 2022 order dismantling death row, with about 580 people still under death sentences housed elsewhere.