Notably, however, there was no provision for a state prison during that first legislative session, despite the fact that Gold Rush California was experiencing levels of violence that were far above and beyond anything else experienced in the United States and, perhaps, the world.
California's second governor, John McDougall, who took office on 9 January 1851, succeeding Peter Burnett who had resigned the seat, was briefly the superintendent of the Indiana state prison in 1846 before he served in the Mexican-American War and then headed to California for the Gold Rush. McDougall evidently encouraged the legislature to do something for the state's convicts.
On 25 April, "An Act providing for securing the State Prison Convicts" was passed along with a slew of legislation to revamp the incomplete criminal laws passed in the first session. The problem, however, was money, because the state was not collecting much in the way of tax revenue, so the governor was said to have encouraged a private lease arrangement.
Consequently, Mariano G. Vallejo, a prominent Californio, and James M. Estell were given the contract to manage the prison, which was to be built by the state, and then to utilize the convicts for labor. Vallejo and Estell agreed to manage the housing and feeding of prisoners, subject to review from a board of inspectors of three men selected by the governor and who would file an annual report.
By 1852, McDougall was not nominated by his party for election to the governor's chair (he had succeeded to the position as lieutenant governor) and Vallejo bowed out of the prison deal, so Estell recruited the former governor and others as partners.
Estell was the controlling interest and formed the "San Francisco Manufacturing Company" to operate prison labor from the existing county jails before the state prison opened. As the legislature worked out details for the construction of a prison, Estell subcontracted with two men to keep the state's convicts, from December 1851 onward, aboard their ship, the Waban, anchored at first at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay and then off Point San Quentin at the north end of the bay. Although the Waban had a capacity of some fifty persons, there were something like three times that many imprisoned there.
Meantime, the prison commission, including McDougall's brother, George, James Graham and chhair Horace Carpentier, a former Oakland mayor, chose San Quentin, off which the prison ship was anchored as the site for the new prison, deciding this location over another near Martinez, further east. The state paid $10,000 for 20 acres.
Architect Reuben Clark was hired to draw up the plans for the structure, but estimated a more than half million dollar cost, which was clearly not practical. This paled in comparison, however, to the sole complete proposal from a contractor, which totaled $725,000 (lowered from an initial $1 million estimate.) To add to the comedy, it appeared that the legislature's intent was to spend no more than $100,000!
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| This page from the San Quentin prison register includes the listing of inmate 113, Juan Moran from Los Angeles, admitted on 16 October 1852 for a three-year sentence of manslaughteer (even though the listed crime on the register is "Murder."). Moran first served his sentence aboard the bark Waban anchored off the shore at San Quentin until the first cell block, "the Stones," was completed at San Quentin in 1854 and Moran was released in October 1855. |
Ten days later, Moran was transferred north. A post on the Trembling on the Brink Facebook page noted that Moran was admitted to San Quentin, but this was an error. Moran was actually housed aboard the Waban when he registered on 16 October to begin his three-year sentence. The 30-year old native of Mexico, who worked as a saddler, was described as 5'5 1/2" tall with a dark complextion, dark eyes and black hair. Moreover, he was said to have a "wound on left under jaw" as well as three scars on his face.
Two days before his arrival, the contract for building the first structure at the prison was let. Moran and his fellow inmates slept on the ship at night and worked to build the prison by day.
In 1854, the first cell block, called "the Stones," opened and the prisoners, including Moran, transferred from the ship to the new facility. There were 48 cells on the second floor of the structure, measuring 54 square feet, which was standard for a solitary confinement. Naturally, no prisoners were held in solitary because of the number of men needed to be housed in the new building. In fact, there were as many as four prisoners per cell.
Moran did not long stay in "the Stones," having been released after serving his term in October 1855. Yet, his confinement in the hold of a ship anchored in San Francisco Bay and then in a cramped cell at San Quentin could have been nothing but miserable.
Not surprisingly, escapes were frequent in those early years of the state prison system. Estell reported in 1855 that there had been about a hundred men who tried to break out, with about 40% successful in doing so. Many of the 60% who did not make it were killed; notably, Estell did not provide a number of those who died in their efforts to escape.
Future posts will discuss more early Los Angeles convicts at San Quentin and about the prison.
Information for this post came mainly from a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation newsletter article, which can be accessed here, and from the 1991 book, A Germ of Goodnes: The California State Prison System, 1851-1944, by Shelley Bookspan.
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