Warning: This article contains discussions of execution, which some readers may find distressing.
While death row may already be a morbid concept for many, one prison gained notoriety for a particularly chilling chamber, fit with an ominous red flashing light.
San Quentin, located north of San Fransisco, is the largest prison in the US, and houses some of the vilest criminals in the whole of the country.
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533 prisoners are currently awaiting the death penalty at San Quentin, which used to be enacted inside a green chamber, as seen in the haunting images below.
The prison has already had its fair share of executions, ever since it first began implementing the death penalty back in 1893.
The next year, 1894, Chief Deputy Warden Amos Lunt was given the responsibility of overseeing said executions, and sent 24 inmates to their deaths during his first two years in the role alone.
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Lunt was replaced before the end of the decade by Frank Arbogast, who was apparently given a cryptic warning by his senior: “They are after me. There are several under the bed now ... it’s only a matter of time until they get me.”
The next year, Lunt was sent to the California State Asylum in Napa, where he would die after taking his own life.
But what about the red flashing light?
What does the red flashing light mean?
The green San Quentin chamber, which was finally dismantled in 2019, included a light, which flashes red when a person was being executed. The light was even visible from the onlooking road, which must have been a frightening image.
The prison is also unpleasant for the living inmates, as San Quentin is said to pack prisoners into four-by-nine-foot cells for 23 hours a day, with inmates claiming to feel like they’re in a 'sardine can'.
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One prisoner, Keith Doolin, who is convicted of murder, has spent the last 28 years in San Quentin. His mother, Donna Larsen, was shocked by the prison’s conditions, stating: "Sometimes Keith's clothing smells mouldy when we visit. To know that your loved one is living in that made me sick." Larsen travels nine hours every month to visit her son.
However, last year it was announced by Californian Governor Gavin Newsom that San Quentin would no longer be harbouring these conditions.
It will instead be turned into a rehabilitation centre, with the current 533 death row prisoners being moved to standard prisons throughout California.
Featured Image Credit: Credit: Scott Strazzante/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images / Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesTopics: Death Row, Prison, Crime, US News, True Crime