Mayor Calls for Removal of Death Row Inmates from Chino Due to Safety Concerns following Transfers from San Quentin

Death row prisoners are being transferred from San Quentin to Chino, leaving local authorities feeling caught off guard by the move. In response, Mayor Cynthia Moran of Chino has called on Governor Gavin Newsom to remove the inmates “effective immediately” due to heightened public safety concerns. The city still requires infrastructure improvements to ensure community security as more condemned prisoners are expected to be transferred to the California Institution for Men (CIM) in Chino, said San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, who echoed Moran’s sentiments. This follows Proposition 66 passed by voters in 2016 that requires death-sentence individuals to work and pay restitution while serving their sentences. The Condemned Inmate Transfer Program has resulted from this law which aims to repurpose existing facilities for educational and rehabilitative purposes, closing segregated death row units at San Quentin and the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Since February 2019, there have been transfers of prisoners amounting to 322 condemned individuals from these institutions with more planned for CIM in future months. However, Dicus has highlighted that escapes by Kevin Cooper, a convicted serial killer, back in the late eighties from Chino’s correctional facility underscored security concerns and deficiencies within specific institutions such as insufficient staffing levels, outdated infrastructure, and lack of investment since CIM was built during World War II. The sheriff emphasized that addressing these issues is crucial for maintaining a secure environment inside the prison to safeguard community safety outside it too. Moran has encouraged residents in Chino Valley to voice their concerns by contacting Governor Newsom and CDCR Secretary Jeff Macomber as they believe engaging and educating local communities should be done before transferring death row prisoners into CIM.