Today, Nov. 5, 2026, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he plans to change all California death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted death sentences for 548 state prisoners, saying “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values.” Victims rights advocates criticized his decision.
It’s worth noting that Californians On Nov. 6, 2012, defeated Proposition 34, an initiative to replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole, by a vote of 53% to 47% in 2012.
California’s death sentence inmates
In 2024, California dismantled what was Death Row and merged its condemned inmates into the general prison population.
In 2024, the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program was completed and the state transferred all 582 men out of San Quentin’s death row to 24 prisons throughout the state. Nine remain at San Quentin in the Psychiatric facility. The 18 death-sentenced women who were formerly on the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla’s death row have been transferred to the general population.
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom said “I will not oversee the execution of any person while Governor… Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure.”
A Gallup Poll in November 2024 found that support for the death penalty in the U.S. is at 53%, the lowest ever. Gallup attributes the decrease to the fact that younger people — those born after 1980 — are less likely to support capital punishment than older Americans.
California’s death row inmates were transferred to institutions with at least a Level II security level and a lethal electrified fence. They are designated as “Close Custody” for a minimum of five years, providing the highest security level while still allowing integration into the general population.
You can see a list of California’s condemned inmates here.
Most executions by state
Since 1976, only top 20 listed (so far In 2026)
Texas 602 (6)
Florida 141 (16)
Oklahoma 132 (3)
Virginia 113
Missouri 102
Alabama 85 (2)
Georgia 77
Ohio 56
South Carolina 50
Arizona 43 (1)
North Carolina 43
Arkansas 31
Louisiana 29
Mississippi 25
Indiana 23
Tennessee 17 (1)
Delaware 16
Federal 16
California 13
Illinois 12
Total executions in U.S. since 1976: 1,683
How many condemned inmates California has
California is one of four states that has a death penalty but paused executions. The others are Oregon, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
California has more people sentenced to death than Florida, Texas and Alabama combined.
Here’s how many states carry out executions and how many inmates are sentenced to death in America.
Sources: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, State of California, Death Penalty Information Center, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc.