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

In April 2007, staff of the California Legislative Analyst's Office discovered that a new execution chamber was being built at San Quentin; legislators subsequently "accused the governor of hiding the project from the Legislature and the public." The old lethal injection facility had included an injection room of 43 square feet (4.0 m2) and a single viewing area; the facility that was being built included an injection chamber of 230 square feet (21 m2) and three viewing areas for family, victim, and press. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped construction of the facility the next week. The Legislature later approved $180,000 to finish the project, and the facility was completed.
Federal executions occurred at San Quentin in December 1948. On two days inmates under federal death sentences for murder were executed in the gas chamber. Samuel Richard Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson died on the 3rd. Carlos Romero Ochoa died on the 10th.
Although numerous towns and localities in the area are named for Roman Catholic saints, and "San Quintín" is Spanish for "Saint Quentin", the prison is not in fact named after the saint. The land on which it is situated, Point Quentin, is named after a Coast Miwok warrior named Quentín, fighting under Chief Marin, who was taken prisoner at that place.