Lethal Injection Chamber, San Quentin State Prison, California, United States

The prison held both male and female inmates until 1932 when the original California Institution for Women prison at Tehachapi was built. In 1941 the first prison meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this, the 25-millionth copy of the A.A. "Big Book" was presented to Jill Brown, of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The use of torture as an approved method of interrogation at San Quentin was banned in 1944.
Alfredo Santos, one-time convicted heroin dealer and successful artist, painted six remarkable, 20 ft (6.1 m) sepia toned murals during his 1953-1955 incarceration that have hung in the dining hall of the prison.
Lawrence Singleton, who raped a teenaged girl and cut off her forearms, spent a year on parole in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin between 1987 and 1988 because towns in California would not accept him as a parolee. Between 1992 and 1997, a "boot camp" was held at the prison that was intended to "rehabilitate first-time, nonviolent offenders"; the program was discontinued because it did not reduce recidivism or save money.