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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing blowback after unveiling a new $239 million rehabilitation center at the infamous San Quentin prison — complete with a cafe and sweeping views of San Francisco Bay.
Newsom attended the opening of the new San Quentin Learning Center, with the goal of “proving that rehabilitation and public safety go hand in hand,” he said at ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.
The center, which features Scandinavian-inspired design, also includes podcast studios, recording spaces and a store “to normalize social and vocational experiences.”
Critics of the amenity-filled center blasted Newsom for the redesign, saying prisons shouldn’t be cushy.
“A prison is supposed to be a prison,” Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland told The Center Square. “He’s putting money, from my understanding, into grocery stores to ‘normalize the environment.’ His words, not mine. A prison should be a prison. People go to a prison because they committed a crime. When you commit a crime, you have to pay the consequence for that action.”
The buildings were modeled off Scandinavian design because Nordic countries emphasize rehabilitation over punishment.
“Once home to California’s death chamber and a symbol of an outdated, cruel system, the three buildings at the learning center are the physical embodiment of the California Model,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.
Some state lawmakers are concerned that the massive financial investment ignores the victims of prisoners’ crimes.
“Victims have become ghosts in our process,” Republican state Assemblyman Tom Lackey told KTXL. “I do believe in rehabilitative process; it’s worth investing in. We have to balance it.”
The project’s $239 million price tag was funded by a lease revenue bond, meaning taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill because the money comes from government coffers.
Other lawmakers would like to see the sum go toward the implementation of Proposition 36, which was passed in 2024 and increaes penalties for certain crimes.
“Given the tight budget that we have, every dollar that is spent on one thing cannot be spent on something else,” Republican state Sen. Roger Niello told the Sacramento Bee.
Newsom said the project is compatible with being tough on crime, as it will help shape ex-cons ahead of their release from prison.
“You can be smart as well as tough on crime,” Newsom said.
“It’s about pragmatism. It’s about dealing with the fundamental fact that 95% of the people in the system will go back to your neighborhoods, and what kind of neighbors do you want them to be?”
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