‘Ending San Quentin’: plan would turn prison into ‘Norwegian style’ rehab center

Gavin Newsom wants to overhaul California's oldest prison into a facility focused on training programs and education

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has announced a plan to transform the state's oldest prison into a center for rehabilitation, education and training, modeled after Norwegian incarceration systems, which are much less restrictive than US facilities.

Newsom told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that his goal was ending San Quentin [prison] as we know it" and working to completely reimagine what prison means". San Quentin, located on a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area and established in 1852, houses nearly 4,000 people, including hundreds on its infamous death row, the largest in the US, which is on track to be dismantled.