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Prisoner headstones in the BC Penitentiary Cemetery
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The BC Penitentiary cemetery is actually comprised of two cemeteries: a Roman Catholic plot at the northwest end of the site, and a Protestant plot to the southeast. Originally the two plots were separated by a distance of 10 - 15 meters, however over time -- and with an increasing number of burials -- they grew together. Those inmates who were neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant appear to have been assigned to one or other plot (e.g. Doukhobor inmates are buried in the Roman Catholic plot, while Chinese inmates, whose religion was listed -- perhaps erroneously -- as "Buddhist", are buried with the Protestants). The earliest documented burial in the cemetery was in 1912, the latest in 1968.
There are forty-eight headstones in the cemetery, twenty-four in the Roman Catholic plot and twenty-four in the Protestant plot. Each stone, made of concrete in the penitentiary's masonry shop, is identified by a three or four digit prisoner number. The cemetery was built on a slope which has eroded over time due to run-off and drainage problems, and some of the stones have begun to sink into the earth. Two of the stones are so worn their numbers are almost impossible to read (these numbers have been confirmed by BC Penitentiary records). |
Roman Catholic Plot |
Roman Catholic - cont'd... |
Protestant Plot |
Protestant - cont'd... |
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