CDCR History
CDCR California prison history explores the stories of the people, places and programs that shaped the current state penal system. Within the CDCR History category, there are two sub-categories. The Unlocking History series uses extensive research culled from historical records while CDCR Time Capsule republishes historical documents as they were originally written.
Since the 1860s, Thanksgiving has been observed in prison thanks to the efforts of early staff and volunteers. The first...
From California's early days, even before statehood, military veterans have shaped what would become today's prison system.
Read More About Military veterans helped shape prison system
A Del Norte case dating to 1913 had an impact on generations to follow, including the Taggart family who still...
For October's final Cemetery Tales, we unrolled the list and dropped to the last names of those buried at San...
An unanswered complaint about food quality ended with the shooting death of a hospital superintendent in 1916. The man responsible...
A man linked to 11 disappearances or deaths, but only convicted of forgery, leads us to the strange tale of...
CDCR Unlocked podcast takes the “unlocked” theme one step further with this episode, a conversation with Unlocking History creator Don...
This week's Cemetery Tales features two men, incarcerated 30 years apart, who ended up in the San Quentin and Folsom...
The latest in our Cemetery Tales series began as a bit of a mystery for longtime San Quentin Museum volunteer...
Log books for San Quentin and Santa Clara County jail were recently found and turned in to San Quentin (SQ).