Senator Wiener’s Statement on COVID-19 Outbreak at San Quentin State Prison

SACRAMENTO - Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the following statement regarding the COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County. As of Monday evening, 337 people incarcerated at San Quentin and 30 prison staff had tested positive for COVID-19. 121 men were transferred from a prison in Chino to San Quentin late last month, none of whom had been tested up to a month prior to the transfer. Infections are now skyrocketing as a result. 

Senator Wiener said: 

“The outbreak at San Quentin is at once tragic, predictable and unacceptable. The fact that 121 men were transferred to San Quentin from Chino without being tested is stunning. We know that the way to stop the spread of COVID-19 is testing, testing and more testing. We know that crowded conditions – like those in our prisons – lead to quick spread of the virus. The human cost of this decision is unthinkable. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation needs to act quickly to reduce the prison population at San Quentin. CDCR also must implement a policy that everyone released or transferred from any prison facility is first tested. We are holding a Senate Public Safety Committee oversight hearing on July 1st to get to the bottom of what happened here and to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Human lives are at serious risk, and we need significant policy change.”