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 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.

William Fredericks, aka The Mariposa Robber, was buried at San Quentin Prison Cemetery in 1895 following his execution.

The fourth installment of the 2026 Cemetery Tales looks at William Fredericks, also known as the Mariposa Robber. Like all...

William Clark, aka Sacramento Billl, died in 1915 at Folsom State Prison, where he is buried.

The third installment of the 2026 Cemetery Tales takes a closer look at William Clark, alias Sacramento Bill. He was...

San Quentin prison cemetery, circa 1930s-40s, and an image of Miguel Bravo from 1925 when he was received for grand larceny out of Los Angeles County to serve a sentence of one to 10 years.

The second installment of Cemetery Tales looks at Miguel Bravo, a 23-year-old who ended up in San Quentin in 1925....

Augustine Berryessa mugshot from 1897 at Folsom State Prison and the prison cemetery with the Folsom Dam shown in the background.

Augustine Berryessa, a petty crook whose life story ended at Folsom State Prison in 1905, is the subject of the...

Two 1910 mugshots of Ah Sun, 24410, and his grave marker at San Quentin. Ah Sun died in the prison hospital in 1915.

A photo of a grave marker in a local newsletter led San Quentin (SQ) Museum volunteer Jeff Craemer to ask...

Cemetery Tales, with Folsom prison cemetery and Folsom Dam in the background overlaid with a mugshot of Harry Stewart, 15561.

In our final Cemetery Tales of the season, we look more closely at Harry Stewart, early 1900s embezzler, thief, and...

JE McKim mugshot from 1907 and 1926 overlaying the Folsom State Prison.

In our third installment of this month’s Cemetery Tales, we look at a drifter with a long criminal record dating...

Cemetery Tales with image of Folsom Prison's cemetery and two mugshots of Raymond Blade and Henry Hunt.

The second installment of this month’s Cemetery Tales looks at two incarcerated people at different stages in their lives when...

John Beebe at the left and Joseph "Jose" Balado overlaying the San Quentin prison cemetery.

The first Cemetery Tales story for 2025 looks at the lives of career criminal John Beebe and Joseph “Jose” Balado,...

Cemetery Tales of the estranged husband and the robber.

In this month’s fifth installment of Cemetery Tales, we examine the stories of an estranged husband and a robber who...

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Cemetery Tales

Cemetery Tales: William Fredericks, aka The Mariposa Robber

Cemetery Tales: William Clark, alias Sacramento Bill

Cemetery Tales: Miguel Bravo meets end at SQ

Cemetery Tales: Meet Augustine Berryessa

Go behind SQ grave marker of Ah Sun

Cemetery Tales: Harry Stewart, Fresno embezzler

Cemetery Tales: Meet JE McKim, thieving drifter

Cemetery Tales: Raymond Blade and Henry Hunt

Cemetery Tales: John Beebe and Joseph Balado

Cemetery Tales: Estranged husband and a robber