California’s Secret Death Chamber

[Judi Lynn]

California’s Secret Death Chamber

Final Call, News Report, Charlene Muhammad, Posted: May 08, 2007

Editor's Note: San Quentin is the oldest prison in California and houses 5,222 prisoners, 619 of them condemned inmates. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began construction on a new death chamber without notifying state lawmakers or the public.

LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com) - Politicians and death penalty opponents are outraged over revelation that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) began construction on a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison, without notifying state lawmakers or the public.
Activists charge that the problem is three-fold: 1) The “secret” construction occurs during a federal review of California’s execution process and San Quentin Death Chamber facilities; 2) It is shrouded beneath a high-profile issue; and 3) The CDCR is using prisoners to build the chamber.

Seth Unger, CDCR Press Secretary, told The Final Call that the $399,000 edifice is being built in an effort to comply with a federal judge’s mandate that the facility and its lethal injection protocols be revamped, and that it is part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to present a remodeled lethal injection facility by a May 15 deadline. Late last year, Judge Jeremy Fogel placed a moratorium on all California executions, ruling that the current method of lethal injection is a violation of a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Judge Fogel’s decision stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Michael Morales, a San Quentin Death Row inmate, convicted of raping and stabbing 17-year-old Terri Winchell in 1981. After the December 2005 lengthy torture and execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and reformed founder of the Crips street gang, Mr. Morales’ lawyers argued that lethal injections violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The cost to build the death chamber fell just below the $400,000 quota, which would require legislative approval. “Something this big and this controversial should never be hidden,” Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) stated. At press time, she was set to convene a hearing for CDCR officials to detail the project and its cost estimates.

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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=1d979c174d22aefc13c6e471d0a8b985