The Capt. Joe Byrd Cemetery Memorial by TPTP

10/04/2026

I am postponing the Cemetery index volunteer event until April 25, 2026 due to weather. It is supposed to be raining here in Huntsville today through the weekend off and on. The part of the cemetery we will be working in will be nothing but mud. So plan on starting again April 25 from 1-5pm!

08/04/2026

31/03/2026

This is the current section P. Started in January 2024.. Still no permanent headstones.. This is why documenting some of these sites is very difficult.

31/03/2026

I spent today in Section P of the cemetery, and documented roughly 200 graves from the newest area. This section holds people laid to rest from early 2024 through mid 2025. What should have been the most identifiable, the most recent, is anything but that.

Many of these graves cannot be identified at all. The markers are gone, decayed, or completely washed away. Paper. Paper markers for human beings. Let that sit for a minute.

Numbers are missing. Names are missing. Identities are disappearing. Some of the graves are sunken into the ground. Not just worn. Sunken. Like the earth is slowly swallowing them up along with whatever record they ever existed. This is not time doing its job. This is neglect.

So I’m asking these questions plainly because it deserves to be asked out loud...
Why are there no proper headstones for these men and women?
Why are markers made of materials that cannot withstand a single season?
Why are graves already deteriorating for people buried less than two years ago?

This is not just a cemetery. This is a recognized historical site. And right now it is not being treated like one.

Today meant something deeper too. The grandson of Captain Joe Byrd, Russell Byrd, came out and worked alongside me. He walked these grounds and saw it with his own eyes. His words matter here, “I cant believe the shape this place is in. My grandfather loved this place. It meant a lot to him. He would be disappointed in the lack of dignity being shown to these men and women.”

That hit. Because it’s the truth.

You can’t replace people. But you can honor them. You can document them. You can make sure they are not reduced to numbers on paper that disintegrates in the rain.

This work matters to me because every single one of these graves represents a life that deserves to be acknowledged. Not erased. Not forgotten. Not left to sink into the ground like they never existed.

Today we gave some of them their names back. And we keep going.

30/03/2026

There is a place in Huntsville where time stands still.

The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is where the State of Texas lays to rest incarcerated men and women whose lives ended behind prison walls. Some have headstones. Some are marked only by number. Some markers are broken, worn, or missing altogether. But every single one of them had a name. A story. A life that mattered.

This project begins with one simple truth: numbers are not enough.

The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery Project, led by the Texas Prison Transparency Project, is an effort to properly document, index, and preserve the identities of those buried there. Not just as records in a system, but as human beings who deserve to be remembered with dignity. This means walking the grounds. Recording names. Verifying burial locations. Documenting damaged or missing headstones. And when possible, working toward restoration and replacement so that no one is erased by time, neglect, or indifference.

We cannot replace the people buried there. But we can refuse to let them disappear.

For many families, this cemetery is the only physical connection they have left. For others, they may not even know their loved one is buried there. Proper documentation is not just about history. It is about accountability. It is about truth. It is about giving families, advocates, and the public access to information that should have never been lost or hidden.

This work is personal.

Because I have sat with families who never got answers. I have spoken the names of people the system reduced to numbers. I have seen firsthand how easily someone can be forgotten once they are no longer visible. This project is about pushing back against that silence.

Scripture reminds us in Gospel of Luke 15:8-10, the Parable of the Lost Coin, that even one lost piece is worth searching for until it is found. That is the heart behind this work. No one is too small, too forgotten, or too far removed to matter.

We are going to document every name.

We are going to acknowledge every life.

We are going to bring light to a place that has sat in the shadows for far too long.

Because dignity does not end at the grave.