Life On San Quentin’s Death Row

Willie Johnson

Willie Johnson, who has been imprisoned on Death Row in San Quentin State Prison in California for more than 20 years, wrote the following essay. An Actual Innocence hearing for his case is scheduled this summer. Willie Johnson, C-35635 5EY55, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974, U.S.A.

Willie has previously written a Letter for a Future Death Row Inmate and can be read HERE.

San Quentin State Prison in located in prime real estate overlooking the San Francisco bay. Designed to house five thousand inmates, it currently holds twice that number. Of these ten thousand or so inmates, seven hundred are on death row. Isolated from the majority of the general population, death row inmates are divided into three groups.

The main group is located in East Block and they are considered Grade A inmates. But they have their own exercise yard so they never come into contact with other inmates, while the rest of the East Block inmates are divided into five other groups and these groups share five yards. These inmates are divided for various reasons. Some because of conflict and others because of the nature of their cases. This is also done so that the prison staff can manipulate the situation. By having prisoners separated in this fashion, prison staff can maintain control by creating an environment of mistrust among the prisoners, which keeps the heat off of them.

On the yard, there are four card tables, a dip bar, pull up bar and single basketball court, which are shared by sixty to seventy inmates. Because of the racial factor, inmates have worked out a schedule so that each group gets a chance to use the dip and pull up bars, but anyone can play basketball. Each group has a card table.

The next group of Death Row is located in North Seg. North Seg is located on top of North Block. And it’s where the original death row was housed. It has sixty-four cells and all the prisoners are considered model prisoners. Although they are also considered to be Grade A inmates, North Seg inmates are considered to be “above’ East Block inmates.

All inmates are housed in single man cells. But North Seg inmates get more yard time than the others. Other than that privilege, their status is the same. Privileges consist of contact visits, phone calls and quarterly food packages. Inmates are also allowed a certain number of books in their cells. As for appliances, Grade A inmates are allowed a television, radio, electric fan, type writer and electric razor. If an inmate loses his Grade A status due to a rule violation, then all these items are subjected to being sent home. Commissary is another privilege given to death row inmates. Grade A inmates are allowed to spend up to two hundred dollars on commissary and Grade B inmates are allowed to spend fifty five dollars. Canteen consists of everything from writing materials to food items. As for Grade b inmates, they are considered program failures and most of them are housed in the adjustment center. There are also some housed in East Block.

Click here to read the full article

Source: Minutes Before Six, Thomas Whitaker, August 6, 2011

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