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Lawmaker Proposes Selling San Quentin State Prison

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Mar 31, 2009 10:58 pm US/Pacific

Lawmaker Proposes Selling San Quentin State Prison

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5) ― On a rocky point in Marin County overlooking San Francisco Bay looms one of the nation's harshest symbols of justice — historic San Quentin State Prison, an aging fortress built in 1852.

But amid California's fiscal crisis, some lawmakers want to sell San Quentin to private developers who might pay as much as $2 billion for the property and help replenish the state's recession-depleted coffers.

"I believe maximum-security inmates shouldn't have waterfront property," said state Sen. Jeff Denham, a Republican from Modesto. "Our inmates just don't need an ocean view."

However, don't expect to see any "for sale" signs posted in front of San Quentin for now.

Denham's bill to close and sell the prison was dispatched to legislative limbo Tuesday after its first Senate committee hearing.

Denham's two previous efforts in years past to sell San Quentin had also failed to get out of committee.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.