On Monday, the California secretary of state announced a measure to abolish the state’s death penalty qualified for the November ballot. If California voters approve the measure, 725 inmates on Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The measure, dubbed The SAFE California Act, far exceeded the half-million signatures required by the state to qualify and is one of the first initiatives the state cleared for the November ballot. "Since 1978 we’ve built up the nation’s largest death penalty system, housing a full 20% of the nation’s entire death row population in the most expensive incarceration facility the state has to offer," Jeanne Woodford, former Warden at San Quentin State Prison and Executive Director at Death Penalty Focus wrote on the [SAFE California Act blog.](http://www.safecalifornia.org/news/blog/epic-win-safe-california-act-to-replace-the-death-penalty-will-be-on-the-november-ballot)