California Governor Signs into Law Bill Expanding Racial Justice Act to Prisoners Already on Death Row

California Governor Gavin Newsom (pic­tured) has signed into law a bill that pro­vides death-row pris­on­ers relief from con­vic­tions or death sen­tences obtained ​“on the basis of race, eth­nic­i­ty, or national origin.” 

The California Racial Justice Act for All applies the pro­vi­sions of the state’s 2020 Racial Justice Act to peo­ple pre­vi­ous­ly con­vict­ed of felonies. The orig­i­nal law applied only to crim­i­nal cas­es in which the tri­al court judg­ment was issued on or after January 1, 2021. 

The expand­ed Racial Justice Act (AB 256) and a sec­ond bill that would remove from death row those indi­vid­u­als deemed per­ma­nent­ly men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent (AB 2657) were among 118 bills Newsom signed with­out fan­fare on September 29, 2022 at the close of the California legislation session. 

The 2022 racial jus­tice bill cre­ates a stag­gered time­line for pris­on­ers to apply for relief. Death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers and peo­ple fac­ing depor­ta­tion will be eli­gi­ble first, begin­ning on January 1, 2023. Separated by one-year inter­vals, eli­gi­bil­i­ty will expand to peo­ple incar­cer­at­ed for felonies, peo­ple con­vict­ed with a felony after 2015, and last­ly peo­ple with old­er con­vic­tions, includ­ing those no longer incarcerated.

“When we passed the Racial Justice Act, we did so with a promise to not leave behind those with past crim­i­nal con­vic­tions and sen­tences that were taint­ed by sys­temic racial bias, both explic­it and implic­it, in our courts,” said Assemblymember Ash Kalra, the bill’s spon­sor. ​“There is still much work to be done, but now AB 256 will pro­vide a valu­able tool to mean­ing­ful­ly address the stark racial dis­par­i­ties in our sentencing history,”

Natasha Minsker, Policy Advisor for Smart Justice California, praised the enact­ment of the bill. ​“AB 256 reaf­firms that racism requires redress. No one should be on death row, deport­ed, or in prison because of racism in our courts,” she said.

In his end of ses­sion actions, Newsom also vetoed 47 bills, includ­ing AB 2632, which would have lim­it­ed the use of soli­tary con­fine­ment in California’s pris­ons. In his veto mes­sage, the gov­er­nor not­ed ​“the deep need to reform California’s use of seg­re­gat­ed con­fine­ment” but said the reform mea­sure passed by the leg­is­la­ture went too far. ​“I am direct­ing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to devel­op reg­u­la­tions that would restrict the use of seg­re­gat­ed con­fine­ment except in lim­it­ed sit­u­a­tions, such as where the indi­vid­ual has been found to have engaged in vio­lence in the prison,” Newsom said.

AB 2657 requires courts to vacate the death sen­tences of peo­ple who have become per­ma­nent­ly incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. It clas­si­fies a per­son as ​“incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed” if, ​“due to men­tal ill­ness or dis­or­der, an incar­cer­at­ed per­son is unable to ratio­nal­ly under­stand either the pun­ish­ment the incar­cer­at­ed per­son is about to suf­fer or why the incar­cer­at­ed per­son is to suf­fer it.” To qual­i­fy as per­ma­nent­ly men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent, the death-sen­tenced pris­on­er must be both ​“present­ly incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed” and ​“The nature of the men­tal ill­ness or dis­or­der giv­ing rise to incom­pe­tence is such that the incar­cer­at­ed person’s com­pe­tence to be exe­cut­ed is unlike­ly to ever be restored.”