DECEMBER 2025

Column 65

   
This is something I wrote for the prison newspaper. The newspaper is called THE VOICE and the Editor At Large is Ricci Phillips who was also on death row at one time. This piece doesn't represent any of the other condemned's opinions. It is my experience and I am sure each person off The Row has their own version of this. I don't speak for them. Adjusting to the transfer is a work in progress and of course there is much more going on than what is in this piece. Even though we are not on death row any longer, there are still many of us who are sentenced to death. Since there isn't a physical death row now, I guess that means any prison where a condemned prisoner is housed is a death row in a sense.

LEAVING THE ROW

Dean Carter, Staff writer/Photographer

Almost two years ago, pursuant to the voter approved Proposition 66 (affirmed by the California Supreme Court), the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) started the process of transferring condemned prisoners from San Quentin's Death Row to qualified institutions throughout the state.

As Prop 66 was being litigated, in 2022 CDCR initiated compliance with a pilot program transferring condemned who volunteered for transfer. This involved approximately 100 individuals from The Row who met the criteria for participating in the pilot program.

The transfer of the remaining condemned started in January of 2024. This time moving was mandatory for all remaining condemned prisoners at San Quentin, except for a handful who were being housed in the San Quentin hospital for various reasons. As of this date, all the condemned, except some in the hospital, have indeed been transferred out of San Quentin to prisons around the state.

The pre-transfer screening process at San Quentin began with mental health staff stopping at every cell on The Row and asking questions, including how each individual felt about having to move to another prison. These "interviews" were brief and cursory, seemingly from a pre-designed checklist. As one might imagine, there were plenty of rude and crude responses to their questions. Many of us had mixed feelings about it. We had established a life, made friends and knew what to expect on The Row. Even if it was a horrible environment that you wouldn't subject an animal to, most of us had adapted to it, for better or worse. However, the idea of a change to a new environment had a very strong appeal.

Correctional counselor interviews followed the mental health questioning, as each individual on the counselor's respective caseloads was asked about their preference of prisons. The condemned population was given a selection from a list of 8 different prisons spread across California, ranging from Pelican Bay in the North, all the way down to Donovan in the South. The counselors informed all the condemned population they would be permitted to make a choice of which two prisons they would prefer to be transferred to; however, if they did not select two prisons they would like to be moved to, the classification committee would make the decision for them. The choices the condemned person was given depended on which classification level that particular individual was determined to fall under. This was based on the point system and what security level would best suit their specific status, according to how many points they had accumulated while on The Row. You received points each time you got into trouble. The fewer points you had, the lower the security level you qualified for. The same criteria and system as for the non-condemned population.

Once the mental health advocates and counsellors completed the process of interviewing all of the condemned, a recommendation was then made to the classification committee as to where that particular individual should be transferred. The reality of it turned out to be that the "choice" of prisons was advisory at best. Some condemned were classified for one prison yet ended up in a prison that was neither of their choices.

The condemned prisoners were also informed that when they transferred to whichever prison they were to be housed in, they would not have to share a cell with anyone for at least a year upon arriving at that orison, even though Prop 66 specially provided that the condemned would be double-celled once they were transferred to a new prison. The reasoning for giving the condemned a year before having to double-cell was in order for that person to acclimate to a new environment, and it would give that person a chance to find another prisoner they would be compatible to double-cell with. This was thought to be a commonsense policy for people who had spent many years, or in most cases decades, on The Row. Living in an environment where you had to watch your back 24/7 and violence was possible at any time, the single cell on The Row was a space where you could relax a little. Being housed in a single cell had always been the policy for the condemned at San Quentin since death row was moved to that prison in the 1800s.

It seems the San Quentin mental health counselors and classification committee were a little bit optimistic (being politically correct...) when telling the condemned they would be able to have a single cell for up to a year upon arriving at their new destination. By all accounts, the condemned who had been classified to a prison with double-celling were encouraged to find a person to double-cell with as soon as possible. This was the case for those of us who were transferred here to the California Health Care Facility (CHCF).

At our initial classification hearing after arriving at CHCF, the condemned were informed we need to find a "cellie" as soon as possible and if we didn't find a "cellie" within 30 days we wouldn't have a choice who we were celled with and would get whoever was assigned to our cell with us.

All in all, the change from living for decades in a death row Level IV environment, with all the mental, physical and emotional baggage attached - never leaving one's cell without being stripped search and then handcuffed - staff always hanging on to you via the restraints - a gunman carrying a Ruger mini-14 semi-automatic rifle tracking your every move (mini-14's have now been replaced by so called "non-lethal" weapons) and then suddenly being placed in a Level II institution required quite an adjustment. Right off the Gray Goose (prison transportation bus), the transportation officer removed our leg irons and waist-chains, then moved on to the next prisoner. At San Quentin classification they had told us nothing about what the change would be like, and when I asked a number of the other condemned what it was like when the guard removed the chains, most of them replied that they thought it was a set-up. The first thing we did was to look around to see where the gunman was, and what would the gunner’s reaction be to such a breach of security? After realizing there was no gunman, the second question of those I asked was, “What am I supposed to do with my hands?” Since we had spent years and decades walking with our hands handcuffed behind our backs, it was a very strange experience to be free of the handcuffs. It took some of us a bit of time to get used to walking with our hands free.

Except for very few instances, the condemned have adapted remarkably well to the newfound relative freedom and opportunities for jobs, groups and school. The one thing that can be said is, I don't think this is what the authors of Prop 66 had envisioned. From the perspective of the condemned, Prop 66 turned out to be a real blessing.

Thank you.
Dean Carter
December 15, 2025

California Health Care Facility
Dean Carter C97919
Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
USA