Unlocking History
Using extensive research culled from historical records, Inside CDCR explores the rich history of the people, places and programs that helped shape the modern state correctional system.
A popular 1958 television game show featured San Quentin Warden Fred Dickson as one of the contestants. In “To Tell...
Read More About 1958: San Quentin warden competes on game show
Superintendent Roland Wood forged a revolutionary program in 1962 at California Rehabilitation Center (CRC), treating drug addicts as patients rather...
Read More About First CRC superintendent took non‑punitive approach
Archibald Yell, the new warden at Folsom State Prison, sought to stop contraband, improve job prospects for the incarcerated population,...
A yellowed, typed spreadsheet titled "Report of Inmates, Women's Ward, San Quentin Prison, May 1922" gives some insight into the...
A 1921 Folsom Prison inspection report, penned by Agent AC Jensen, landed on the Inside CDCR desk. Photographs and detailed...
Editor’s note: David “Dutch” Van Dalsem, a former correctional officer who founded a group for movie extras, died in July...
Read More About Retired officer founded group for movie extras
The State Board of Charities and Corrections, established in 1903, shaped today's CDCR and Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO)....
California Medical Facility (CMF) history begins in southern California and a former federal prison at Terminal Island, long before it...
Read More About California Medical Facility was first prison hospital
Those training as fire crews at Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) can trace the program’s roots to 1915 highway camps and the state’s...
Read More About Highway camps paved way for Sierra Conservation Center
Training incarcerated men in aircraft engine repair at Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) can trace the program’s history to World War...