A GROUP OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS, human rights activists and local politicians rallied Thursday on the steps outside San Francisco City Hall to demand that Gov. Gavin Newsom commute all death sentences in the state. 

“Our death penalty system is cruel, racist, unjust, and an obscene waste of public resources,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju in a speech. “It is shameful that in 2025, our state continues to sentence people to death.”

Activists held up large signs and banners, including one with every name of those on California’s death row. Approximately 565 candles covered the steps of City Hall, signifying each of the 565 inmates currently in prison with death sentences.

Since 1978, 13 people have been executed in California, all at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County. The last inmate to be executed in California was in 2006, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.  

In 2019, Newsom ordered a moratorium on executions, effectively pausing them and closing San Quentin’s execution chamber.

“The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as Governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual,” Newsom said in a statement after issuing the executive order.

But those against the death penalty, such as Sister Helen Prejean, want to see Newsom authorize clemency of all death sentences. 

“We look at California as a beacon for where we need to go as a country,” Prejean said in a speech. “I’m calling on you Gov. Newsom to do the right, moral thing.” 

(L-R) San Francisco Interfaith Council executive director Michael Pappas, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, Sister Helen Prejean, San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, death row exoneree Sabrina Butler, Buddhist Prison Ministry founder Susan Shannon, and Rabbi Jonathan Singer of Congregation Emanu-El at a rally calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025 in San Francisco, Calif. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)

District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder is sponsoring a resolution for the board of supervisors to urge Newsom to commute all death sentences. It will go to a vote at next week’s regular meeting.

Fielder discussed how the death penalty system in California has racial disparities, since marginalized groups like people of color and mentally ill people may be less likely to be able to afford good defense attorneys. 

More than six of every 10 inmates with death sentences in California prisons are people of color, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Additionally, a 2005 study showed that those convicted of killing white people were more than three times as likely to be sentenced to death than those with Black victims, and four times as likely for those convicted of killing Latinos. 

“Until we abolish the death penalty entirely, the system will continue to fail people, especially people of color,” Fielder said.

Until we abolish the death penalty entirely, the system will continue to fail people, especially people of color. District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder

Several faith leaders also spoke out in favor of commuting death sentences, referring to how executions and the death penalty go against their religious beliefs.

“We must reject this death penalty in all cases, because we are not God,” said Rabbi Jonathan Singer from Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. “Commute them now. The guilty can live life imprisonment, maybe learn and grow, but without putting blood on all of our hands.”

Susan Shannon is the founder of Buddhist Prison Ministry and has worked with over 1,000 violent offenders at San Quentin State Prison, including those who were on death row. 

She said at the rally that she has seen progress from Newsom’s decision to abolish death row through her time working with inmates at the prison and hopes that Newsom can take more steps to reform the system of death penalty.

“They are exuberant at simply being able to be in the presence of another human being without shackles, let alone the opportunity to learn, gain insight and understanding,” she said in a speech. “Please continue this momentum and commute all death sentences while you can.”

Human rights activists hold signs at a rally calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025 in San Francisco, Calif. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)

On Friday from 2 to 6 p.m., the San Francisco Public Library’s main branch will host a free screening of “Dead Man Walking,” a film adapted from Prejean’s memoir of the same title. Prejean will be in attendance and discuss the film.  

Her memoir recounts the real-life experience she had as spiritual advisor to an inmate awaiting execution. 

The book has also been adapted into an opera, which will be performed at the San Francisco Opera from Sept. 14 to 28. 

Alise is a general assignment reporter with a focus on covering government, elections, housing, crime, courts and entertainment in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Alise is a Bay Area native from San Carlos. She studied history at University of California, Santa Cruz and first started journalism at Skyline College’s school newspaper in San Bruno. She has interned for Bay City News and for Eesti Rahvusringhääling, or Estonian Public Broadcasting. She has covered everything from the removal of former San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus to the divisive battle over the Great Highway on San Francisco’s west side. Please send her any tips.