Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery

Common card · No. 232424

The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the main prison cemetery in Texas, United States, located in Huntsville and operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The cemetery is colloquially known as Peckerwood Hill. The name originates from "Peckerwood", a racial slur towards poor white people, because many of those buried at the cemetery were poor. It is the place where prisoners not claimed by their families are buried. It is the largest prison cemetery in the State of Texas. Byrd's first prisoners were interred there in the mid-1800s, and the prison agencies of Texas have maintained the cemetery since then. The warden of the Huntsville Unit (nicknamed the "Walls Unit") maintains the cemetery.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Amy from Austin, TX, United States, CC BY 2.0