The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez on Netflix delves deep into the case of the eight-year-old American schoolboy, who suffered a catalogue of child abuse at the hands of his mother Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre. Fernandez and Aguirre were both found guilty of first-degree murder and are incarcerated in separate Californian prisons.
Where is Pearl Fernandez now? Inside Chowchilla State Women’s prison
In February 2018, Pearl Fernandez stood trial for the murder of her son, eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez.
She entered a plea deal, pleading guilty to first-degree murder with the additional special circumstance of murder by torture.
The conditions of her plea deal ensured Fernandez would serve life in prison, without the possibility of parole or the chance to appeal.
As a result of her plea deal, she was able to avoid the death penalty, unlike her partner, Isauro Aguirre who was sentenced to death.
READ MORE Gabriel Fernandez: Which other cases were tried in same LA courtroom?
He is currently on death row in the infamous San Quentin Prison in California.
Fernandez is currently incarcerated in the Central California Women’s Facility, known as Chowchilla women’s prison. She was taken there on June 21, 2018.
At the sentencing hearing, Fernandez told the court: “I want to say I’m sorry to my family for what I did…. I wish Gabriel was alive.
“Every day I wish that I’d made better choices. I’m sorry to my children, and I want them to know that I love them.”
Until 1933, they were held in the Women’s Ward of San Quentin, then moved to California Institution for Women at Tehachapi, before being relocated to Chowchilla in the 1990s.
Chowchilla’s capacity is 2,004 but according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the population is approximately 3, 670.
Former Chowchilla prisoner Amika Mota spoke to NPR about life in Chowchilla.
Mota, who had been serving a nine-year sentence for vehicular manslaughter, described one of the guards as “possessive.”
She said: “He liked having his housing unit full of things he liked to look at — was what he said.”
