Bay Curious

A Prison with Million Dollar Views? How San Quentin Came to Be


Listen Later

Terese O'Malley commuted across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge for years, and always wondered about a landmark visible from the bridge: San Quentin State Prison. The maximum-security prison sits on a primo piece of waterfront property in Marin County that would likely sell for an unfathomable sum in today's market. "How did Marin end up with San Quentin prison?" she asked Bay Curious. And why hasn't it moved?

Editor's Note: We finished production on this week’s story about San Quentin prison in February 2020, just before Coronavirus took hold. In the months that followed, a few cases at the prison grew to more than 2,200. Ultimately two-thirds of people at San Quentin got infected, and 29 people died. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks in the nation’s prison system. Things have mostly turned the corner now that the majority inside are vaccinated, but questions remain about how things were handled. Long term effects from the outbreak are still being felt. In addition to our episode, we encourage you to listen to The Bay's episode from April about life at San Quentin today.

Additional Resources:

  • The Lasting Impact of COVID-19 in San Quentin State Prison (The Bay podcast episode)
  • Court Hearing Examines Whether San Quentin’s Deadly COVID-19 Outbreak Could Have Been Prevented

  • Reported by Kelly O'Mara. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Erika Aguilar, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Isabeth Mendoza, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Carly Severn, Lina Blanco, Christopher Cox, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Bay CuriousBy KQED

    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8

    4.8

    1,044 ratings


    More shows like Bay Curious

    View all
    This American Life by This American Life

    This American Life

    90,966 Listeners

    Radiolab by WNYC Studios

    Radiolab

    43,891 Listeners

    Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

    Freakonomics Radio

    32,000 Listeners

    Fresh Air by NPR

    Fresh Air

    38,518 Listeners

    Planet Money by NPR

    Planet Money

    30,729 Listeners

    Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

    Hidden Brain

    43,615 Listeners

    Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

    Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

    38,807 Listeners

    99% Invisible by Roman Mars

    99% Invisible

    26,241 Listeners

    Marketplace by Marketplace

    Marketplace

    8,760 Listeners

    KQED's Forum by KQED

    KQED's Forum

    719 Listeners

    KQED's The California Report by KQED

    KQED's The California Report

    397 Listeners

    Close All Tabs by KQED

    Close All Tabs

    98 Listeners

    The Latest from KQED by KQED

    The Latest from KQED

    79 Listeners

    The Indicator from Planet Money by NPR

    The Indicator from Planet Money

    9,538 Listeners

    Political Breakdown by KQED

    Political Breakdown

    190 Listeners

    The Bay by KQED

    The Bay

    435 Listeners

    The California Report Magazine by KQED

    The California Report Magazine

    131 Listeners

    Throughline by NPR

    Throughline

    16,364 Listeners

    Truth Be Told: Time to Thrive by American Public Media

    Truth Be Told: Time to Thrive

    1,507 Listeners

    KQED Newscast by KQED News

    KQED Newscast

    30 Listeners

    Short Wave by NPR

    Short Wave

    6,550 Listeners