ABSTRACT
State Prison, 1 tells a story about Eithel Spinelli, the first woman to be executed in California.2 In 1941 when Spinelli was on California’s death row, thirty male inmates at San Quentin prison sent a petition to Duffy:
A lengthy document, it said, among other things: that Mrs. Spinelli’s execution would be repulsive to the people of California; that no woman in her right mind could commit the crime charged to her; that the execution of a woman
would hurt California in the eyes of the world; that both law and the will of the people were against the execution; that Mrs. Spinelli, as the mother of three children, should have special consideration; that California’s proud record of never having executed a woman should not be spoiled.
