California's death series of death experience life according to Newsoms Moratorium

San Francisco – Los Angeles Times recently presented the experience of several people who were previously housed in California's death cell – Bob Williams, Kevin Bernoudy, David Carpenter and Cathy Sarinana – how her life has changed after the government of Governor Gavin Newsom.

The 49 -year -old Bob Williams spent more than half of his life isolated in San Quentin's death cell. At the age of 18, he raped and murdered Mary Breck in Kern County in 1994. Only the day before had he broken into her house and stolen credit cards. He claimed that he returned to return her, she strangled instead. Williams was convicted of the first degree murder and sentenced to death.

Despite a traumatic childhood, which is characterized by the time in Juvenile Hall and Foster Care, Williams said that it was the best for me to be sent to San Quentin. He entered a prison, determined to find God and forgiveness. In the death cell, he dived in philosophy and poems and was inspired by works like Invictus.

Williams reconciled with his death sentence and was aware of the impending prospect of fatal injection. However, this changed when Governor Newsom declared a moratorium for executions in 2019, followed by his announcement of 2023, to transform San Quentin into a rehabilitation center. In the spring of 2022, Williams was moved to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County. For the first time in decades, he was able to go free, eat with others and feel the sun on his face.

Although his death sentence remains intact, Williams was deeply changed by moving. Now he works as a chapel official and enjoys the coasts of sunsets, garden time and sport. However, the adjustment was not easy: the first parts of a cell scared him. “It's a transition,” he said. “And it is sometimes a hard transition.”

Newsom's orders did not set any death sentences, but exceeded convicted people from San Quentin's death cell. The change opened access to rehabilitation programs and educational opportunities. As soon as they are locked up in metal measurement cells for almost 20 hours a day, many now participate classes and community activities.

When Williams changed, he took his Bible, a prayer book and a few clothing and left the rest of the friends. His case illustrates both the promise and the challenges of life after the death wing.

The victim's rights groups have reacted to these changes with anger and frustration. Patricia Wenskunas, founder of Crime Survivors Inc., criticized newsoms of one -sided step: “The death cell was chosen [on] From the people in California. And an individual, the governor, decided to take him away through a pen. “The California voters rejected a ballot papers in 2016 to lift the death penalty and instead passed proposition 66, who wanted to accelerate the executions and obliges the occupants to contribute 70% of wages since 2020.

Nevertheless, change has come. According to the California Ministry for Corrections and Rehabilitation, around 70% of the transferred occupants are currently in rehabilitative programs. Over 330 are enrolled in educational courses, and 263 take part in self -help lessons. While 99 serious disciplinary quotes have received, most of the behavioral improvements show.

For others such as Kevin Bernoudy, who was convicted of a murder in 2006 in connection with a gang and adapts to life in the California State prison in Solano-where he was difficult to get his wife closer. He described younger inmates as undisciplined, without interest in rehabilitation: “If this is our future, it is terrible.”

However, Bernoudy found small improvements: access to basic hygiene tools and better foods. “They gave me one [chicken] Leg, and for me it was so wow, “he said.” They must not have any bones in the death cell. “

Among the transferred figures such as David Carpenter, the so -called trailside of killers. Now 94 Carpenter was sentenced to death in 1984 because he had murdered over three dozen people on hiking trails. Moved to the Californian health facility in Stockton, Carpenter who uses a wheelchair enjoys more garden time, hot breakfast and programs such as computer courses and church services. “All occupants in San Quentin see that we are here in an age environment,” he said.

The 67 -year -old Raynard Cummings was convicted in 1983. However, because of his conviction, he was concerned about violence and stigma of prisons. Cummings has now been moved again – now living in the high desert state in the country district, County because it deals with weakness and security problems.

Cathy Sarinana, 48, is one of 18 women who were sentenced to death in California. She and her husband were convicted of 2005 in the murder of her 11-year-old nephew Ricky Morales. After Ricky's death, his 13-year-old brother's body was surrounded in concrete. Sarinana claims that she was abused by her husband and did not protect her nephew. “I live with this guilt every day,” she said.

In the death cell in the women in women in Central California, Sarinana experienced a close-meshed, supportive environment-afraid that she had losing the transfer. Although the unity resembled a “corn casting”, it found real friendships and even had vacation pots with other inmates.

Sarinana was transferred to a medical unit in 2024 that deals with disabilities and was worried that Sarinana was avoided. Now she works as a group mediator under the retired deputy supervisor Velda Dobson-Davis and helps others to process trauma. Nevertheless, it misses aspects of the death cell. “I still long for this place,” she admitted. “It's pathological.”

Williams, who moved back to the California health facility in 2024, repeated a similar ambivalence. Although he is grateful not to be in the death of death, he longs for clarity: “I am somehow to a point, either take it out or tell me that you don't go.” While he has hope for sizes, he stays in peace and dying in prison. “I came to face with it and looked into the eyes,” he said. “And I found life.”

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Bob Williams California California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Cathy Sarinana CDCR David Carpenter Death Councilor Gavin Newsom Kevin Bernoudy Mary Breck Patricia Wenskunas Raynard Cummings