SACRAMENTO — California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday commuted all 548 death sentences in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole, emptying the largest death row in the United States in a single act. In an open letter, Newsom called the death penalty “unjust, error-prone, and incompatible with the state’s values” and said “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values.” The move, announced on November 5, 2026, does not repeal the death penalty. It applies only to people already condemned, and some commutations still require review by the California Supreme Court.

Key Points

• Governor Gavin Newsom commuted all 548 death sentences in California to life without parole on Thursday, November 5, 2026.
• California holds the largest death row in the US, with 564 people — 546 men and 18 women.
• The action does not abolish the death penalty, and some commutations require review by the California Supreme Court.
• Among those affected are Richard Allen Davis, serial killer Randy Kraft, Charles Ng and Yosemite killer Cary Stayner.
• The announcement came the same day three executions were scheduled elsewhere in the US.

What Happened

Newsom announced the commutations in an open letter published on Thursday, framing the decision as a moral judgment on a punishment he has opposed for years. The order covers every person currently under a sentence of death in California — 548 sentences in total — and converts each one to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. No one covered by the order will be released, and no one will become eligible for parole.

The order goes much further than the moratorium Newsom imposed shortly after taking office in 2019, which only paused executions. Thursday’s order changes the sentences themselves, permanently removing the prospect of execution for the men and women now on death row. But it is not a repeal: California voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978, and it remains on the books. Under the state Constitution, some commutations — including those involving people convicted of more than one felony — must be reviewed by the state Supreme Court before they take effect, so the full legal effect will unfold over the coming weeks.

Background: California’s Death Row

California has carried out only 13 executions since voters restored capital punishment in 1978, even as its death row grew into the largest in the country. The state’s most recent execution was in 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was put to death. Since then, legal challenges, a shortage of execution drugs and political opposition have kept the death chamber at San Quentin idle.

Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions within weeks of taking office in 2019 and closed the state’s execution chamber. The moratorium stopped executions but left the sentences in place, and a future governor could have reversed it. Thursday’s commutations are different in kind: they alter the sentences themselves and cannot be undone by a successor.

California Death Sentences Commuted: What the Order Changes

For the 548 people covered, the change is stark but narrow. Their sentences become life in prison without the possibility of parole, and their cases will no longer move through the death-penalty appeals process that has kept some of them in litigation for decades. The convictions themselves are untouched: the men and women whose sentences were commuted remain convicted of the murders and other crimes that put them on death row.

Among those affected are some of the most notorious killers in California history: Richard Allen Davis, convicted of kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993; serial killer Randy Kraft, convicted of murdering 16 young men; Charles Ng, convicted alongside Leonard Lake in a series of murders in the 1980s; and Cary Stayner, the Yosemite killer convicted of murdering four people in 1999. The order does not end the debate over capital punishment: prosecutors could still seek death sentences in future cases, and a future governor could decline to commute them.

Reactions and Quotes

Reaction split sharply within hours, and the sharpest criticism came from prosecutors and victims’ families. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer condemned the move in the strongest terms, calling it “mercy for the wolves” and “the ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep.” For Spitzer and other critics, the commutations override the verdicts of juries and the wishes of families who waited decades for sentences to be carried out.

Support came from other prosecutors and from victims’ families who have long opposed the death penalty. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen backed the decision, arguing the system had failed to deliver justice fairly or reliably. Jess Nichol, the sister of Polly Klaas, said the death penalty had become “a distraction” — a striking position from a family at the centre of one of the cases the order covers.

Why It Matters

The commutations matter first because of their scale. No governor in American history has commuted so many death sentences at once. Emptying the largest death row in the country in a single day reshapes the national picture of capital punishment, cutting the national death-row total sharply.

It matters, too, because of the timing. The announcement came on Thursday, November 5, 2026, two days after the midterm elections, and on a day when the machinery of capital punishment was operating elsewhere in America: Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit at 12:45 a.m., while Florida’s Jesse Guardado and Alabama’s Michael Taylor were set to be executed later in the day. The contrast — California emptying its death row while other states carried out executions — captured a country moving in two directions at once.

What Happens Next

The immediate next step is legal rather than political. Some commutations must be reviewed by the California Supreme Court under the state Constitution, and the court’s consideration will determine when each one formally takes effect. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will then reclassify the affected prisoners, moving them out of death-row status and into the general population serving life without parole.

Legal challenges are possible, though the governor’s clemency power is broad and courts have historically given governors wide latitude in commutation decisions. Critics in law enforcement and victims’ groups are expected to press for legislative or ballot responses, and the issue is likely to feature in California’s next race for governor.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many death sentences did Governor Newsom commute?
All 548 currently in effect in California, each converted to life without parole.

Does the order abolish the death penalty in California?
No. It applies only to sentences already imposed, and some commutations still require court review.

Will anyone covered by the order be released?
No. Every commuted sentence becomes life without parole.

Who is on California’s death row?
564 people — 546 men and 18 women — including Davis, Kraft, Ng and Stayner.

When was the last execution in California?
In 2006. The state has carried out only 13 executions since 1978.

Related coverage: Indiana carried out the first of three executions scheduled for the same day: Indiana executing Jeffrey Weisheit for the 2010 murders of two children — and Indiana lawyers raced to halt the Weisheit execution over a drug-supplier probe.