Governor Brown Cancels New Death Row Facility

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown announced that, as a significant way to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, he was canceling California's plans to build a new housing facility for death row prisoners at San Quentin. We've been suggesting for a long time that the death penalty, besides being flawed, is too costly. Please take just a few seconds to tell Governor Brown "Thank you!" but also: "Please don't stop here."

Take Action today!“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 Governor 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.”

Thank Governor Brown for hearing the message, but tell him that he needs to go further: it is also unconscionable to continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on our dysfunctional death penalty each year. Please take a few seconds to thank the governor, and call for an even bolder step: Cut the Death Penalty, save the state hundreds of millions of dollars, and keep law enforcement effective, allow certain justice for victims' families and avoid the decades-long appeal process.

Voters From All Spectrum Say: Convert Death Row Sentences to Save $1 Billion

http://www.aclunc.org/docs/criminal_justice/death_penalty/april2011dppoll.pdf