California governor commutes all death penalties to life in prison

California Governor Gavin Newsom has spared the lives of 548 death row prisoners in the US state, with their sentences changed to life in prison without parole.

Newsom, who in 2019 put a moratorium on prison execution but left death row inmates behind bars, announced the move in a public letter.

“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” it read.

“I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”

Figures from the governor’s office show 548 people are currently sentenced to death in California, of which 529 are men and 19 are women.

The California constitution requires the state Supreme Court’s approval to grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once. This means the court would have to support 382 of those commutations, according to numbers provided by Newsom’s office.

The decision by Newsom, a Democrat, comes in the final months of his governorship ahead of what is expected to be a tilt at becoming US president.

In the letter, Newsom described how it was one of the hardest decisions of his career, given the memories of crime victims’ families.

“As Governor, I alone bear responsibility for this decision and its impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,” he wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony Romero applauded Newsom’s move.

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“These commutations reflect what justice demands: an end to a racist, error-prone, and inhumane punishment that has burdened California for far too long,” he said.

“By taking this step, Gov. Newsom has affirmed that the death penalty has no place in California and he showed real courage by confronting racialized injustice head-on.”