Cemetery Tales
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, Folsom State Prison and Preston School of Industry in Ione each have a cemetery where incarcerated people are buried, marked only with their inmate numbers. Using state records and published newspaper accounts, Inside CDCR is unlocking stories of those buried in the prison cemeteries. In early 1958, a change in policy ended the practice of burying people at state prisons.
In our final Cemetery Tales of the season, we look more closely at Harry Stewart, early 1900s embezzler, thief, and...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: Harry Stewart, Fresno embezzler
In our third installment of this month’s Cemetery Tales, we look at a drifter with a long criminal record dating...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: Meet JE McKim, thieving drifter
The second installment of this month’s Cemetery Tales looks at two incarcerated people at different stages in their lives when...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: Raymond Blade and Henry Hunt
The first Cemetery Tales story for 2025 looks at the lives of career criminal John Beebe and Joseph “Jose” Balado,...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: John Beebe and Joseph Balado
In this month’s fifth installment of Cemetery Tales, we examine the stories of an estranged husband and a robber who...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: Estranged husband and a robber
Our fourth Cemetery Tales looks at farmer-turned-double-murderer George Biggs and Judah Benjamin, a self-proclaimed king. Both men ended up in...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: The farmer and a self‑appointed king
In our third installment of this year’s Cemetery Tales, we take a closer look at two men who died a...
Read More About Cemetery Tales: Strange, Noyer buried a century ago
Two cooks, incarcerated at different times and institutions, are the subjects of the second installment of this month’s Cemetery Tales....
A swindling dentist and a deadly feud between neighbors are the first featured stories in this month’s Cemetery Tales series....
Read More About Cemetery Tales: Swindling dentist; Deadly feud
For October 2023’s final Cemetery Tales, we unrolled the list and dropped to the last names of those buried at...