Protesters Chain Themselves to Gate of Newsom's Home Demanding Mass Inmate Releases

Demonstrators chained themselves to a fence outside Gov. Gavin Newsom's home on Monday, calling for mass inmate releases and an end to immigration transfers, as outbreaks of the coronavirus continue to ravage a number of prisons and detention facilities throughout the state.

After about two hours, California Highway Patrol officers cut the chains used by protesters to lock themselves to the front gate of the governor's residence in suburban Sacramento. It was not immediately clear how many arrests were made.

Television footage showed 14 demonstrators sitting cross-legged and chained to each other and the front gate, wearing masks and plastic face shields to keep from spreading the virus.

Organized by the California Liberation Collective, the protest included several community organizers who are in the country illegally, as well as immigration attorneys whose clients are at risk of becoming infected.

The 14 demonstrators were backed by dozens of other protesters calling for more prison releases because of recent major outbreaks, including the most severe instance at San Quentin State Prison, where more than 2,100 inmates have been infected with the virus in the last two months and 19 have died.

More than 1,800 inmates statewide have active COVID-19 infections, according to prison officials, while over 5,600 have contracted but recovered from it. Across the state, 47 inmates have died so far of suspected virus complications.

Also on Monday, more than 100 UCSF doctors were among the 750 people who signed a statement delivered to Newsom calling for more prison releases. The move was organized by UCSF's chapter of White Coats For Black Lives, which said the signers also include nurses and other medical and mental health providers, students and community members.

They and the collective both called for reducing San Quentin's inmate population by half to slow the spread of the virus.

On Sunday, condemned San Quentin inmate Johnny Avila Jr., 62, was the latest inmate at the facility — and 10th on its death row — to die of suspected complications from the coronavirus.

Avila was among three men convicted in 1994 of two counts of first-degree murder for the 1991 slayings of two young women. The other two men were sentenced to life prison terms.