San Quentin Inmate Plans Menu For Release

After 24 years of incarceration, Ernest Morgan, who was freed from San Quentin State Prison this morning, planned to head to Mama's restaurant in San Francisco's North Beach with his family for an omelette.

He also intends to take in a Giants game and a 49ers game soon, but his top priority is spending with his loved ones and getting to know them again.

In September 1987, Morgan shot and killed his 14-year-old stepsister Chari McCline when she came home as he was burglarizing his stepfather's apartment in Oakland. He was 18 at the time.

He was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. He ended up spending more than two decades behind bars, the last 13 years at San Quentin.

This morning, around 8 a.m., he was driven through San Quentin's east gate and was dropped off just outside prison grounds where he was met with tears and hugs by his mother, biological father and two brothers.

As he stepped out of the prison van he looked at his mother, Hilda McCline, with a twinkle in his eye.

"I love you," he said, as she embraced him.

After greeting his family, he turned to a handful of reporters to answer questions. He became emotional when asked about Chari.

"She was a beautiful girl," Morgan said. "She didn't have a chance to grow up and be the person that she could have been. Because of me."

Morgan will have to adjust to a different world than he knew when he was incarcerated nearly a quarter-century ago and will have to make new friends.

"I have a whole bunch of friends I just left," he said this morning, standing in the sun outside prison gates. "It's hard leaving."

He planned to stop at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral to pray before heading to Mama's restaurant, which he found out about watching KQED's "Check Please! Bay Area." He said the image of their omelettes stuck in his mind.

Morgan left San Quentin with just a handful of possessions, including a photo album and a Bible.

— Bay City News