Newsom moves to replace all 548 California death sentences with life imprisonment

On November 5, 2026, California governor Gavin Newsom said each of the state’s 548 death-row prisoners would instead be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. The action covers every prisoner sentenced to death in California, although most commutations require court approval, according to the BBC.¹³⁴

Court approval remains

The prisoners affected include 529 men and 19 women. California had the largest death-row population in the western hemisphere, according to the Guardian and Axios. The Guardian described the decision as the biggest removal of prisoners from a US death row in modern history.²³⁴

The announcement does not mean every sentence change has completed the approval process. Nearly 400 prisoners have convictions for multiple felonies, and their commutations require agreement from at least four of the California Supreme Court’s seven judges, the BBC reported. The Guardian also reported that the court would review clemency in multiple-felony cases.¹²

Newsom said he was using his constitutional clemency powers and described imprisonment for life without parole as the toughest punishment he could legally impose. He said California’s capital-punishment system had convicted innocent people and argued that executions were incompatible with the state’s values.¹²

From a pause to sentence changes

Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019 and, according to the Guardian, ordered the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison decommissioned that year. California last carried out an execution in 2006. The BBC reported that the state had executed 13 prisoners since voters restored capital punishment in 1978.¹²

The Guardian reported lengthy waits for legal representation among those sentenced to death: 220 had spent at least 15 years waiting for habeas counsel, while 139 had waited at least 20 years for representation. Newsom’s office said 45 people had exhausted their appeals and would face immediate eligibility for execution without the moratorium, the newspaper reported.²

Newsom presented the decision as a rejection of execution rather than of severe punishment. “This decision is among the most difficult of my career,” he said. He also said that selecting some offenders for clemency while excluding others would divide murder victims according to whether their killers should be executed.²

Support and a contrasting federal position

The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed the announcement. The announcement also received support from Jeanne Woodford, who supervised four executions during her tenure as California’s prisons director. “I am haunted by the fear that we will execute an innocent person,” Woodford said, according to the Guardian.¹²

The decision contrasts with Donald Trump’s support for capital punishment as a means of deterrence and punishment. According to the BBC, no federal executions have occurred since his 2025 executive order reinstating the federal death penalty. The broadcaster reported that capital punishment remains legal in 27 states, while 23 states and Washington DC have abolished it.¹