perhaps the best known, but the facility also houses richard ramirez, better known as the night stalker and richard alan davis, polly klaas s killer. the prison is more than 150 years old. its walls are crumbling and the institution has become outdated, contributing to an overwhelming increase in both the number and severity of brutal assaults by inmates. during the next hour, you will witness life inside san quentin, including a look inside california s vicious death row. san quentin opened in 1852, and today seems physically trapped in the century in which it was conceived. old and decrepit, san quentin is riddles with shadowy al kobes and blind spots. there are nor electrified lethal fences.