Newsom commutes death sentences for all 548 on death row

California Governor Gavin Newsom used his constitutional clemency authority on Thursday to commute the death sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Why it matters: The mass commutation empties the largest death row in the United States by executive action alone, in the final months of Newsom's term, and sets the terms of the succession race and the national death penalty debate that follows it.

Data as of BBC News report of November 5, 2026, read in full through the estate browser route; the same action was carried the same day by the Guardian, the New York Times, Deutsche Welle, France24 and The Hill. Developing item.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced in a letter to victims’ families that he is commuting the death sentence of every person on California’s death row, all 548 people, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Newsom called California’s system for administering the death penalty a failure by every measure, said life without parole is the most severe punishment he can lawfully impose, and said he alone bears responsibility for the decision.

The action is largely symbolic in immediate terms, because California has not executed a prisoner since 2006, and Newsom placed a moratorium on executions in 2019 and later moved death row inmates out of San Quentin to other high-security prisons. It lands in the final months of his term, with executions rising elsewhere in the United States.

Newsom commutes death sentences for all 548 on death row

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