California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced his plan to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on the state’s death row, replacing their sentences with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Among the prisoners included in the sweeping clemency initiative is a trans-identified male convicted of beating two babies to death and who is currently being held in a women’s facility.
In an open letter to Californians released Thursday, Newsom said the decision reflected his longstanding opposition to state-sanctioned executions, arguing that capital punishment was incompatible with the state’s values and that an imperfect justice system could not reliably administer an irreversible punishment.
The announcement has prompted sharply divided reactions, with prosecutors and some victims’ families condemning it as an affront to jury verdicts and the suffering of those affected by violent crime. Newsom acknowledged that his decision would be deeply painful for some families, but said he had concluded that the state could no longer morally justify executions.
Some 382 of the proposed 548 commutations require approval from the California Supreme Court because the inmates have been convicted of a felony on more than one occasion. The requirement leaves a significant legal question over whether Newsom’s unprecedented exercise of clemency will proceed in full. The governor, however, has expressed confidence that his decision is consistent with California law, arguing that his constitutional clemency powers allow him to commute the sentences of all 548 prisoners.
Among those criminals who stand to benefit from Newsom’s plan is a transgender killer who beat two of his own children to death.
Jason Hann was first arrested after the remains of his 10-week-old daughter were discovered in Arkansas. The little girl’s body was found in an advanced state of decomposition and stuffed in a tupperware container onboard an RV trailer once owned by Hann after the vehicle had been repossessed and sent to auction. The buyer of the RV discovered the body in February of 2002, and called police.
The baby’s corpse had been in the plastic tub for approximately one year before she was found, and it was determined that the girl had died of a fractured skull.
Police were quickly able to connect the trailer to Hann using its registration history, and he and his girlfriend, Krissy Werntz, were found and arrested at a motel in Portland, Maine, in April of that same year.
During the multi-state investigation into the baby’s death, law enforcement discovered a second child’s remains in an Arizona storage locker rented by Hann. It was determined the body belonged to his 6-week-old son who he had murdered by head trauma in 1999.
In both cases, Hann had apparently kept and travelled with the corpses before finally storing them.
Disturbingly, when law enforcement initially went to arrest Hann and Werntz at the Oregon motel they had been living at, they discovered a third infant child who was already showing serious signs of abuse, including a dozen broken ribs, retinal hemorrhaging, bleeding under the skin, and internal injuries. The child was reportedly on “the brink of death,” but was given immediate medical attention and placed into protective custody.
In February of 2006, Hann was sentenced to 27 to 30 years in prison in the case of his son’s death. In 2013, he would be given the death penalty in the case of his daughter’s death after jurors were allowed to take into consideration his other conviction. Werntz, the mother of the infants, was sentenced to 15 years to life for the death of her daughter but avoided any charges in the death of her son. During her trial, it was learned that Werntz had been under significant duress during the relationship, and that Hann had threatened to murder her if she went to police.
Hann was initially placed at San Quentin State Prison, which was at the time a maximum-security prison and one of California’s most notorious and closely guarded correctional institutions. But in 2019, he began to identify as a woman named “Jessica,” and demanded the state provide him “gender affirming” accessories such as hormones, bras, makeup, and hair rollers. He also requested a legal name change, sex reassignment surgery, and a transfer to a women’s facility.
In 2020, he was moved to death row at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). But after California Governor Gavin Newson signed an executive order suspending the death penalty in the state and mandating a stay on execution for all inmates on death row, Hann was allowed to move into the women’s general population after a cursory observation period.
Concerningly, Hann was set to be released into the very facility where Werntz was being held, despite having previously threatened to murder her. Fearing for her life, Werntz filed for an emergency transfer out of the institution and was granted a change in placement to the California Women’s Facility just days before Hann was turned loose.
In 2023, Reduxx learned that Hann was awaiting taxpayer-funded breast implants while at the women’s facility.
Hann was just one of the violent male inmates who benefited from SB-132, The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act, which formally established the right of inmates to be housed on the basis of gender identity.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has previously confirmed to Reduxx that prison transfer requests are based entirely off of a Gender Identity Questionnaire that could be issued during reception or requested by the inmate at any time during their incarceration.
The Questionnaire is a form with a short series of questions in which inmates can declare their pronouns, honorifics, and gender identity. Male inmates do not need to identify as transgender to request transfer, and can simply identify gender non-conforming, or non-binary.
Since the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act took effect in January 2021, California has reported 2,640 currently incarcerated people who identify as transgender, non-binary or intersex. During that period, 1,127 people from those categories have requested transfers to women’s correctional institutions or community facilities, according to figures published by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in October 2026.
According to earlier data collected by Keep Prisons Single Sex USA, 33.8% of the men seeking transfer to a female prison are known to be registered sex offenders.
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