San Quentin went from prison to rehab center. Where did death row inmates end up?
California’s oldest prison once housed the largest death row in the nation.
The correctional facility formerly known as San Quentin State Prison housed some of the Golden State’s most notorious inmates, including cult leader Charles Manson and serial killers Richard Ramirez and William Bonin.
In 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that San Quentin would be “transformed from a maximum-security prison into a one-of-a-kind facility focused on improving public safety through rehabilitation and education.”
Newsom said the newly renamed San Quentin Rehabilitation Center would “serve as a nationwide evidence-backed model to advance a more effective justice system that builds safer communities.”
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation phased out the death row at San Quentin and transferred 500-plus inmates who had been sentenced to death to different prisons across California, the Sacramento Bee said.
Where are some of San Quentin’s most notorious inmates now?
Here’s where they’re serving out their sentences:
Where is serial killer Randy Kraft incarcerated?
Serial killer Randy Kraft raped, tortured and murdered at least 16 men over the course of a decade, leading to his arrest in Orange County in 1983. .
In 1989, the so-called Scorecard Killer was convicted of 16 counts of murder and other crimes, and sentenced to death.
As of Monday, May 18, Kraft, 81, was incarcerated at California Institution for Men in Chino, according to records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
What happened to the Trailside Killer?
Serial killer and sex offender David Carpenter, also known as the Trailside Killer, was the oldest death row inmate in California before being transferred from San Quentin.
Carpenter raped, tortured, and murdered numerous people in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1979 and 1981, primarily in Marin and Santa Cruz counties.
In 1984, Carpenter was convicted of two counts of murder and other crimes, and sentenced to death.
A jury convicted Carpenter of five counts of first-degree murder in 1988, and he received a second death sentence.
As of Monday, Carpenter, 96, was behind bars at California Health Care Facility in Stockton.
Man convicted of 11 murders in Calaveras County
Former U.S. Marine Charles Ng and Leonard Lake killed 11 people in Calaveras County in the 1980s, The Sacramento Bee previously reported.
The man held two of their victims prisoner at a cabin in Wilseyville.
Lake died by suicide shortly after his arrest in 1985, while Ng fled to Canada. He was eventually extradited to the United States.
In 1999, a jury found Ng guilty of 11 counts of first-degree murder, and was sentenced to death.
Ng, 65, was imprisoned at California Medical Facility in Vacaville as of Monday.
Where is Riverside Prostitute Killer behind bars?
The man known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer, William Suff, killed at least a dozen women and tried to kill another one in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.
Suff, who targeted sex workers, was arrested in 1992.
A jury found him found guilty of 12 murders and one attempted murder in 1995, and he was sentenced him to death.
State records show Suff was incarcerated at the Substance Abuse Treatment and State Prison in Corcoran as of Monday.
Who kidnapped and killed Polly Klaas?
Richard Allen Davis kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl, Polly Klaas, after breaking into her Sonoma County home in 1993, ABC News reported.
After being arrested for a parole violation, Davis admitted to taking Klaas from her home, strangling her and hiding her remains.
In 1996, Davis was convicted of killing and kidnapping Klaas, and received a death sentence.
As of Monday, Davis, 63, was an inmate at Avenal State Prison in Kings County, according to state incarceration records.
What happened to man who killed Yosemite tourists?
In 1999, Cary Stayner kidnapped and murdered a mother, her teenage daughter, and an exchange student during their trip to Yosemite National Park, The Mercury News previously reported.
Stayner, who was a handyman at the motel where the three were staying, confessed the crimes to the FBI months later.
Stayner was convicted of those murders, and sentenced to death. Separately, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing a Yosemite Institute employee.
As of Monday, the 64-year-old Stayner was incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City.
Where is convicted killer Scott Peterson now?
Months after his pregnant wife disappeared from her Modesto home, Scott Peterson was charged with killing Laci Peterson and her unborn child, The Modesto Bee previously reported.
In 2004, a jury found Peterson guilty of murdering his wife and child. He was then sentenced to death.
in 2020, the California Supreme Court revoked Peterson’s death sentence. He was moved to Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County in 2022.
What happened to Bakersfield mass murderer?
Vincent Brothers was a vice principal at a Bakersfield elementary school when he killed his wife, his mother-in-law and three of his children in 2023.
In 2007, a jury convicted Brothers of five counts of murder, and he was sentenced to death.
Brothers, 63, was incarcerated at California Health Care Facility in Stockton as of Monday.
Fresno man murdered children during police standoff
Mass murderer and child rapist Marcus Wesson murdered nine of his children in 2004 during a custody dispute that led to a police standoff in Fresno.
In 2005, Wesson was convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder and 14 sex crimes. He received the death penalty.
As of Monday, Wesson, 79, was incarcerated at California Health Care Facility, according to state records.
San Quentin inmate tricked killer into confessing more murders
A 2010 visit by a probation officer led to Joseph Naso’s arrest on suspicion of murder.
Naso was convicted in 2013 of killing four women, and sent to death row.
During his time at San Quentin, fellow death row inmate William Noguera reached out to a cold case investigator and told him Naso had confessed to killing a total of 26 women.
As of Monday, Naso, 92, was an inmate at California Health Care Facility.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 9:00 AM with the headline "San Quentin went from prison to rehab center. Where did death row inmates end up?."
