Today I am pleased to offer this guest editorial from longtime FR friend State Senator Jeff Denham…
As we begin the 2009-2010 legislative session, the time is long overdue to take action to eliminate the colossal state budget deficit. One important step in solving the state’s budget crisis is to eliminate wasteful resources and look for potential opportunities to create new revenue without raising taxes.
One significant opportunity is to sell the 432 acres of pristine California land that houses San Quentin State Prison. This state property sits on a prime bay front section of Marin County and has the potential to provide the state with substantial revenue.
My legislation in 2007, which would have decommissioned San Quentin, did not pass so I recently introduced Senate Bill 28, a similar measure, for the new session.
The prison, built in 1852, is unsafe for inmates and staff alike. Pouring more money into this dilapidated facility is a waste of resources. The property that the prison sits on is worth an estimated $2 billion.
Despite my previous attempts to decommission San Quentin, the Schwarzenegger Administration has expressed a strange desire to further expand this death row due to the increased population of condemned inmates. That expansion, planned to begin as soon as spring 2009, will cost $1.2 billion to operate through 2020. San Quentin is the oldest and most expensive state prison. The state needs to rid itself of this decaying liability, NOT expand it.
The revenue and savings from the sale of San Quentin could be better used to expand other prisons, or build a new, safe and cost-effective prison and facilitate building a death row elsewhere.
Clearly, selling San Quentin will not solve the entire budget crisis, but it will help chip away at the massive deficit with a one-time influx of cash and cost savings.
Then-Governor Ronald Reagan wanted to sell San Quentin back in 1970s. Reagan was right!
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