The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the main prison cemetery in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, located in Huntsville and operated by the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

(TDCJ). The cemetery is colloquially known as Peckerwood Hill. The name originates from "

Peckerwood ''Peckerwood'' is a US racial epithet used against white people, especially poor white, poor rural whites. Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been reclaimed by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs. The term was in ...

", an insult towards poor

white people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...

,Eternity's gate slowly closing at Peckerwood Hill
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. August 3, 2012. Retrieved on March 16, 2014. because many of those buried at the cemetery were poor.Ross, Robyn.
Laid to Rest in Huntsville

Archive
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. January 4, 2012
1
Retrieved on January 15, 2012. The warden of the

Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Ins ...

(nicknamed the "Walls Unit") maintains the cemetery.

History

In the 1850s officials from the Texas prison system had accidentally buried prisoners on the wrong plot of land. The owners of that plot donated the land to the state so it could be used as a burial ground. The cemetery's current name derives from Joe Byrd, an assistant warden at the

who, in the 1960s, helped restore and clean the cemetery. Byrd was also the state executioner, overseeing electrocutions at Huntsville. He was best known for the dignity and respect given to the inmates who were executed and their families. As of 2011, each burial has the presence of either the Huntsville Unit warden or a deputy of the Huntsville Unit warden. Prisoners serve as pallbearers, chisel names in headstones, and dig graves using shovels and backhoes. In 2011, 160 prisoners were buried in the cemetery. As of 2012 TDCJ officials confirmed that the cemetery includes remains of 2,100 prisoners. Franklin T. "Frank" Wilson, an assistant professor of criminology at

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

,Fernandez, Manny. "Texas Prisoner Burials Are a Gentle Touch in a Punitive System." ''

''. January 4, 2012
2
Retrieved on January 15, 2012. and a former PhD student at

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston, SHSU or Sam) is a public research university in Huntsville, Texas, United States. Founded in 1879, it is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools wes ...

, did a study of the cemetery in 2011. He photographed all of the graves and concluded that there are over 3,000 graves at the cemetery. As part of his research he found that at least 30 to 40 of the prisoners were veterans of wars. As of 2012 much of the remaining land at the cemetery is prone to flooding. In 2012 James Jones, the warden of the

, stated that the state needs to find a new burial ground within two years.

Geography

It is located on of land on a hill, from the

and in proximity to

. Robyn Ross of the ''

Texas Observer ''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3) During the 1980s and 1990s the headstones that were manufactured were concrete crosses only displaying prison ID numbers and dates of death. There are other headstones which also include the names of the prisoners and the dates of birth. Headstones of death row prisoners have prison numbers with the beginning “999”, a state designation for a death row inmate, or they have the letters "EX" or "X". Because of soil shifts, some graves have collapsed. As of 2014, over half of the graves in the prison are from after 1979. Wilson stated that this is because of an increase in imprisonment in the 1980s and 1990s.

Operations

Of about 450 annual deaths that occur in the Texas prison system, about 100 prisoners are buried at the cemetery, and each burial has a cost of about $2,000.Stravato, Michael. "The Rites of a Prison Cemetery." ''

''
7
Retrieved on January 15, 2012. The State of Texas covers the costs of funerals at Joe Byrd. Usually the funerals at the cemetery are held on Thursdays. In order to allow families of executed prisoners to make a single trip to Huntsville instead of two separate trips, the burial of an executed prisoner not claimed by the family is usually done the day after their execution. David Collier Sr., a chaplain in Huntsville, stated in 2014 that the most common reason why the families do not pick up the bodies is because they are unable to afford doing a burial themselves, so they often schedule a funeral in Huntsville and allow the state to bury the body. On many occasions, the prisoner's relatives do not attend the funeral. The TDCJ refers to a burial with no family members present as a "direct". Collier stated that some family members in other parts of Texas cannot afford to travel to Huntsville, and sometimes the state cannot locate family members. Prisoners working as the cemetery grounds crew stand witness in burials without family members or friends of the deceased. In the cases of a prisoner who died in the Huntsville Unit, the prisoners at the funeral may know him, but if the prisoner died elsewhere, the prisoners at the funeral will often not know the prisoner. Wilson stated that about 2% of the people buried at the Byrd Cemetery had been executed, but the public believes that all executed prisoners are buried there because the

, the site of execution in Texas, is in close proximity. Most executed prisoners are claimed by their families.

Notable burials

* Kenneth McDuff (1946—1998), serial killer and rapist * Derrick O'Brien (1975—2006), one of several perpetrators of the Murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peñaobrienderrick.jpg

Archive
). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 27, 2012. * Henry Lee Lucas (1936—2001), serial killer *

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(—1878), Kiowa war chief; reburied in Oklahoma in 1963Santanta
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Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

''. Retrieved on October 26, 2010. * Elroy Chester (1969—2013), serial killer, rapist and child molester *

James Autry James David Autry (September 27, 1954 – March 14, 1984
Cemeteries in Texas Huntsville, Texas