A SMALL, UNASSUMING constructing throughout the harsh concrete gates and in depth safety of San Quentin Rehabilitation Heart is open to the general public, crammed with typically unsettling artifacts from the historical past of California’s most notorious jail.
Affiliate warden Richard Nelson helped create the San Quentin Museum in 1993 whereas working on the jail. Positioned inside San Quentin’s gates, the museum showcases displays spanning from the jail’s founding in 1852 via the Forties.
At this time, curator Jeff Craemer manages the museum which is open to the general public on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The museum’s location — and the truth that guests should undergo the jail’s gates — could intimidate potential guests, however Craemer and others really feel that the placement supplies a better perspective on the museum’s content material.
Having the museum throughout the jail gates was Nelson’s concept, Creamer stated. “He thought ‘Why have it outside? We ought to have it in here so that you can feel more connected to the museum.’ The museum may be about two blocks away from the gate, but you go through security and there are officers coming and going in front of the museum,” Craemer stated.
Craemer started curating the museum 43 years in the past, working with Nelson and others to create an image for guests of the historic San Quentin expertise. Previous to his work on the museum, Craemer was a journalist, and upon retiring he took an interest within the historical past of San Quentin.
Pictures, musical devices, instruments and extra are featured among the many shows within the San Quentin Rehabilitation Heart museum in an undated picture. (Rob Stewart/CDCR by way of Bay Metropolis Information)
Getting ready the displays
Cramer started by amassing displays and authenticating them. He then created a timeline for the showcases and the museum’s content material.
“We got the help of a woman who used to be an official at the institution and was the widow of a warden. She offered to design the museum pro bono, so we turned it over to her,” Craemer stated.
Quite a few fashions of vintage rifles and pistols utilized by jail guards through the years are displayed within the San Quentin Rehabilitation Heart museum in an undated picture. (Rob Stewart/CDCR by way of Bay Metropolis Information)
Craemer has labored to fill within the gaps in San Quentin’s story with assist from members of the family of retired jail workers who held on to artifacts from their time working contained in the jail’s gates.
“I had a woman come in whose father was an executioner with the rope that hung the last man in the prison. She also presented me with a cigar box of nooses. Her father wrote out the number of the inmate who he was to execute on a little noose and kept it in a cigar box,” Craemer stated.
From San Quentin’s opening 170 years in the past, individuals have been introduced there earlier than being moved to different prisons throughout California, serving because the preliminary reception space for state prisoners.
“If a judge sentences someone to prison, San Quentin is often the first place they will come. Then they are evaluated and sent somewhere else,” Craemer stated. “We have had some of the most high-profile people here like Charles Manson and Richard Allen Davis, who is still there, and Scott Peterson. They have since been moved, but no matter the crime they committed, they all came to San Quentin and then were sent on.”
“I had a woman come in whose father was an executioner with the rope that hung the last man in the prison. … Her father wrote out the number of the inmate who he was to execute on a little noose and kept it in a cigar box.”
Jeff Craemer, San Quentin Museum curator
The museum additionally serves as a timeline of the jail and the way its packages have developed, from housing notorious prisoners to creating new rehabilitation efforts for inmates within the Forties.
“The museum is the history of the prison and the state as we know it. The artifacts are there to see and it really gives perspective on what it used to be like,” Craemer stated.
An early proponent of felony justice reform
Clinton Duffy served because the warden of San Quentin between 1940 and 1952 and was a outstanding opponent of capital punishment and pushed for brand new rehabilitation packages within the jail.
“When Warden Duffy came along in the 40s, he changed that place and brought in rehabilitation where men could learn a vocation and a trade, and when they got out, they could work in productive society. We did have a furniture factory, where inmates made furniture for schools, libraries and public buildings around the state,” Craemer stated.
Historic images are displayed on the partitions of the San Quentin Rehabilitation Heart museum. The jail has been residence to quite a few well-known inmates over its 170-plus years, together with Charles Manson, Richard Allen Davis and Scott Peterson. (Rob Stewart/CDCR by way of Bay Metropolis Information)
Guests to the museum should undergo in depth safety and verify in the identical as they might in the event that they have been visiting the jail. Upon clearing via safety, they’re directed to the museum.
“Sometimes there is a tour, and they’ll all come in. Sometimes people come in and say they are from North Carolina or Utah and read about the museum and wanted to come see it. I’ve had some law groups come in to see the prison. It is just there for the curious to come and see how the prison was and how it is today,” Craemer stated.
Craemer encourages guests to return see the museum due to its location, which he believes supplies distinctive perception into California’s historical past with state prisons and felony justice.
The museum “is sharing the history of the institution that has been there since 1852 with the public,” Craemer stated.
