Governor Newsom’s curious obsession with overhauling San Quentin State Prison is now becoming a reality, as the notorious prison is getting a farmers market, podcast studios, and food trucks.California Governor Gavin Newsom quite obviously has higher political aspirations, and he seems to think th at going “anti-woke” on his podcast is his winning political formula. But he’s still going through with his progressive-leaning reform of San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, which would likely be pounced on by a Republican opponent in any national campaign. Though, consistent with Newsom’s current political identity, Newsom’s new vision for San Quentin prison comes with podcast studios.    Newsom has been on a kick for years to reform San Quentin, since he eliminated Death Row there, claiming he would turn it into a “healing environment.” Now the Chronicle reports that construction is underway on Newsom’s newly imagined San Quentin, and the paper describes the overhaul as turning the place into a “Nordic-style center for preparing incarcerated people to reenter life outside prison.”This Nordic-style prison model is a system used in Scandinavian countries that basically makes prisons nicer in hopes of making prisoners less likely to recommit crimes once they’re out. Newsom is taking it a step further by actually hiring a Danish architecture firm to design the new buildings. Yes, there will be podcast studios, as well as TV studios, classrooms where prisoners learn to code, plus a self-service grocery store, and food trucks staffed by prisoners. The Chronicle adds that one of Newsom’s goals is to “make good nutrition foundational to the San Quentin experience.”And the prison will be switched from a maximum security prison to a medium security prison. Because of this, about 1,000 of the facility’s 3,400 prisoners will be transferred out. Prisoners will have their own rooms without beds. The Newsom administration says this will ultimately save money, as the state spends about $60,000 a year per prisoner at the facility because there’s so much security. But aren’t we just sending prisoners to other facilities that have the same costs?  Newsom’s office oddly did not comment for the Chronicle article, and instead referred questions to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which is referring to this as their “California model.” “The holistic initiative leverages international, data-backed best practices to improve the well-being of those who live and work at state prisons,” that department's spokesperson Todd Javernick told the Chronicle. “The initiative’s goal is creating safer communities and a better life for all Californians, by breaking cycles of crime for the incarcerated population, while improving workplace conditions for institution staff.”There will of course be criticism that Newsom is going soft on criminals, and indeed, the Chron notes that many crime victims’ families say this money should be going to their healing instead of making San Quentin a “healing environment.” And there’s also pushback from prisoners’ families that to many incarcerated people will end up being shipped further away from their families, all because of Newsom’s experimental pipe dreams. Regardless, construction on the new San Quentin is now underway. It’s expected to be completed in January 2026, at which point new prisoners will start moving in, and maybe those podcasts will start getting posted shortly thereafter.Related: MC Hammer Pays A Visit To San Quentin [SFist]Image: SAN QUENTIN, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 29: A view of San Quentin State Prison on June 29, 2020 in San Quentin, California. San Quentin State Prison is continuing to experience an outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 cases with over 1,000 confirmed cases amongst the staff and inmate population. San Quentin had zero cases of COVID-19 prior to a May 30th transfer of 121 inmates from a Southern California facility that had hundreds of active cases 13 COVID-19-related deaths. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) ...read more read less