Transforming San Quentin: A New Vision for Rehabilitation and Education in California

SHL San Quentin Rehabilitation Center View 02 EDIT

In March 2023, the Governor of California Gavin Newsom announced groundbreaking reforms at San Quentin State Prison - now San Quentin Rehabilitation Center - making a significant step in developing the California Model for correctional institutions in focusing on rehabilitation and support for re-entry of the incarcerated population. The California Model is a holistic approach based on Nordic precedent, that leverages the wellbeing of those who live and work at correctional institutions. The overall goal is to reduce recidivism rates and in turn enhance public safety, as well as improve staff health.

Schmidt Hammer Lassen has been appointed as part of a larger design-build team together with McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., and collaborating partner DLR Group to fulfil the Governor’s vision of creating a one-of-a-kind rehabilitation center. Thus, transforming San Quentin as we know it to a facility that focuses on education and rehabilitation. This project will provide a campus-like educational facility providing classrooms, library, a technology and media center, store, and cafe. A normative environment that encourages personal growth and self-agency amongst the incarcerated population.

To support the design development, Schmidt Hammer Lassen deployed a design team to California to work closely together with our client and collaborators CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation), Vanir and the wider Design Build Entity team in an integrated Progressive Design Build setup.

The Nordic Model

Introduced in Norway in the early 1990s, the Nordic Model revolutionised correctional philosophy. Rejecting punitive measures, it prioritises rehabilitation through education. The model emphasises community-based facilities over large prisons, fostering strong support networks by encouraging the incarcerated to maintain and develop relations with family and healthy support systems focusing on emotional, moral, and vocational competences.

In 2019, SHL completed the New Correctional Facility Nuuk, Greenland – a unique setting for progressive rehabilitation, and a bold statement about the power of architecture to positively affect human behaviour.

SHL is bringing knowhow from several educational projects across the globe as well as specialised knowledge on designing rehabilitation facilities. SHL has extensive experience in design and delivery of complex projects worldwide, specifically in North America, Europe, and Scandinavia. The practice brings a set of distinctive conceptual design skills and a visionary approach rooted in the Scandinavian design tradition placing people and planet at the heart of everything we do.

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New Correctional Facilty Nuuk

San Quentin's Historic Transformation: A Model for US-wide Justice Reform

The historic effort at San Quentin, never pursued at this scale in the United States, will extend far beyond its current prison walls, serving as a pioneering nationwide evidence-backed model to advance a more effective justice system that builds safer communities. Since September 2023, SHL and the wider team has engaged in numerous user engagement workshops with CDCR staff and incarcerated to build the programming of the project and help setting new standards for CDCR. Working within an overall budget of $240 m, the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center project is on a fast-track schedule set to open its doors early 2026.

The project is targeting LEED Gold.

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SHL San Quentin Rehabilitation Center View 01 EDIT Low Res

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SHL San Quentin Rehabilitation Center View 03

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"Transforming San Quentin is a personal ambition of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Our work on a new campus within the prison's secure perimeter marks the first step towards realising the Governor’s vision of a prison system inspired by the Nordic model, with a clear focus on rehabilitation and reintegration. We’re extreemly proud to be part of this project and the collaboration with CDCR and the Governor’s Office."

– Sanne Wall-Gremstrup, CEO and Partner, Schmidt Hammer Lassen

For more information about the project click here.