Lawmaker suggests San Quentin sale

SACRAMENTO, March 19 (UPI) -- A California state senator is calling for San Quentin State Prison to be closed and the land auctioned to private developers.

State Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, said the 158-year-old prison was built on what was once a remote peninsula on San Francisco Bay but the property is now surrounded by some of the most prized real estate in the region, ABC News reported Thursday.

"Quite frankly, our inmates just don't need ocean views," Denham said. "It's one of the oldest and most inefficient prisons in the entire nation. We could sell this one and build four others at less expensive places in the state."

Denham, who has previously introduced legislation to sell the prison without success, estimated the property could sell for as much as $2 billion, bringing the cash-strapped state some much-needed revenue, ABC News said.

However, Seth Unger, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the department doesn't agree with Denham's appraisal of the 5,300-bed prison's worth.

"We very much disagree with the idea that you can sell this property for $2 billion," he told ABC News. "Furthermore, the cost to build a new prison with 5,300 beds would likely be over $2 billion and there's not any identified site in California that has open arms to housing the next death row."

A committee hearing on Denham's proposal has been scheduled for March 31.