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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Governor Brown Cancels Plan to Build New $356 Million Condemned Inmate Housing Facility at San Quentin

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San Quentin's new death chamber
SACRAMENTO – Acting to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today canceled plans to build new housing for condemned inmates at San Quentin.

“At a time when children, the disabled and seniors face painful cuts to essential programs, the State of California cannot justify a massive expenditure of public dollars for the worst criminals in our state,” said Brown. “California will have to find another way to address the housing needs of condemned inmates. It would be unconscionable to earmark $356 million for a new and improved death row while making severe cuts to education and programs that serve the most vulnerable among us.”

Planning for a new condemned inmate housing facility at San Quentin was initiated in 2003, during the administration of Governor Gray Davis, and was continued by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration. The project was designed to house 1,152 inmates and provide for future growth of California’s condemned population. California currently has fewer than 700 inmates awaiting death sentences.

This project would have added another $356 million to the state’s debt, at an annual cost of $28.5 million in debt service that would have come out of General Fund dollars.

Source: Los Angeles Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, April 29, 2011


California: Brown Cancels New Death Row Complex

Gov. Jerry Brown has canceled plans for a new $356 million death row complex at San Quentin State Prison. Governor Brown said Thursday that the state could not justify the expense at a time of huge cuts to education and other essential services. Plans for the new death row complex were approved in 2003 by Gov. Gray Davis and continued to be developed under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The complex was designed to house 1,152 inmates, allowing California’s condemned population to grow. The state now has fewer than 700 inmates awaiting death sentences.

Source: AP, April 29, 2011
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