California lawmaker proposes selling San Quentin prison

Just looking at the picture tells me how valuable this piece of land could be on the open market. It is amazing that such a beautiful sight is being used to house inmates in California given the appeal for such property. The one problem that I have with the state selling off the property to curb its state deficits is the idea that where do you put these inmates? In Arizona especially, I know that overcrowding and lack of space available has hurt the criminal justice process because some criminals are released early simply due to lack of space. In California, 5000 inmates may not sound like a large number, but in the scope of things it is very significant and unless a plan is put into place to secure facilities for these individuals, then I think it would be best to hold off on selling the land to a private investor. Instead of working backwards, we should look towards the future and determine the best ways to provide incarceration to people who break the law and then decide how moving inmates around can occur in an efficient manner. Overall, I think the sum that could be fetched for the land is very much needed, but until a better plan is established it shouldn't be sold at this time.