A prison with a view

While the govt wants to sell the picturesque San Quentin jail, inmates don't want to go

While the govt wants to sell the picturesque San Quentin jail, inmates don't want to go

It's some of the most prized waterfront land in the US and the owner has proposed selling it to raise cash. But the current residents don't want to leave, and uprooting them would be costly.

Lovely: San Quentin prison has 5,300 inmates.

The property in question is San Quentin State Prison.

Governor Arnold Schwarzen-egger has proposed selling the 432-acre prison and other state-owned properties to ease the state's budget deficit.

But inside San Quentin, talk of a sale is seen as a threat to the prison programmes. "Some places you go for punishment.
u00a0
Here, it's more rehabilitation. I don't know why the governor would want to shut us down," said inmate John Taylor.

Previous efforts to close the prison and sell its land have all been stalled.