Demonstrators gathered Monday morning outside the Sacramento-area home of Gov. Gavin Newsom, demanding he take action to prevent the growing spread of the coronavirus in state prisons, KCRA reported.
Video from the TV station showed the group standing outside the gate to Newsom's driveway at his Fair Oaks home. They carried signs, chanted and painted a large message on the street in front of the home.
About a dozen of the demonstrators chained themselves to the front gate, KCRA reported. California Highway Patrol responded and began taking those people into custody.
The protest came as two more inmates at San Quentin State Prison died of complications related to the coronavirus over the weekend, prison officials confirmed. One died at an outside hospital Saturday, and another was pronounced dead at an outside hospital Sunday, a prison official said.
The prisoner who died Sunday was identified as condemned inmate Johnny Avila Jr., 62, who had been on death row since March 1995.
They were the 18th and 19th deaths of San Quentin inmates related to COVID-19, the official said. As of Sunday, the prison has 545 inmates who are actively positive for the coronavirus.
The demonstrators also demanded that if and when prisoners are released, those who are undocumented immigrants should not immediately be detained by federal immigration officers and potentially spread or be exposed to the virus elsewhere, KCRA reported.
California
It was not immediately clear if the governor was at home during Monday's demonstration.
