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The Unlocking History series uses extensive research culled from historical records while CDCR Time Capsule republishes historical documents as originally written.
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).
California Men's Colony was an experiment in penology, creating a place to incarcerate older men by using a former military...
In 1986, Parole Administrator Howard Loy reported on the move to digitize the department and what the future might bring...
Folsom State Prison has a rich history going back to 1868, when the Board of Prison Directors selected Folsom as...
Victims and survivors have long fought to have a voice in investigations, trials, sentencing and parole hearings. Since the first...
While horses were used to build the first state prisons, they were also the reason rustlers and bandits ended up...
Before motorized vehicles, horses powered construction of the early California prison system. As the cars of their day, horses also...
News stories covering California Men's Colony (CMC) staff, programs, and the incarcerated population help tell the institution's history.
Poorly cooked food, a lack of basic standards, and food-borne illness resulted in a standardized food service manual for Civil...