CDCR Time Capsule
Much like opening a time capsule, these stories are reprinted from their original sources, only edited for length. Explore the history of the department as it was written at the time.
Former Correctional Officer William Conroy describes how female inmates were employed at San Quentin. This is the third of a...
Read More About Dec. 30, 1911: Former officer describes life for female inmates
Former officer William Conroy describes the jute mill and other jobs for inmates at San Quentin in the early 1900s.
Read More About Dec. 19, 1911: Former officer describes inmate jobs
"As I have been requested to write a story on the state’s prison at San Quentin where I was a...
Read More About Dec. 18, 1911: Former officer describes life in prison for new inmate
San Quentin Warden James A. Johnston described reception, recreation, parole and the general treatment of inmates at the state’s oldest...
Read More About 1914: San Quentin warden focuses on redeeming offenders
California Medical Facility was given an 8mm film that appears to have been shot in the mid- to late-1970s or...
Read More About 1970s Officer training film emphasizes empathy
(Correction News, Vol. 2, No. 3, published this story in the September 1988 edition about the death of a correctional...
Read More About 1988: Officer Lyle Herman slain while trying to stop robbery
"Twenty years ago, the only place you would see a female in a male prison was in an office behind...
Read More About 1989: Department director declares women a major force
"Folsom recently hired the department's first full-time women firefighters. Marianne Breeland and Kathy Williams, both former correctional officers, transferred to...
Read More About 1989: First full‑time women firefighters hired in department
"As he left the stands at the conclusion of San Quentin's seventeenth annual field and track meet, Warden James B....
Read More About 1930: Warden thanks volunteers in inmate‑run newspaper
A 1921 Folsom Prison inspection report, penned by Agent A.C. Jensen, landed on Inside CDCR desk. It was 32 pages...
Read More About 1921: Folsom report gives snapshot of life behind the walls