Index to Prisoners, U.S. Penitentiary, Atlanta (National Archives series)

National Archives series of index cards for Atlanta penitentiary inmates, 1902 to 1973, arranged in 263 alphabetical file units. The digitized unit where Capone's card would fall was paged without finding it.

Date: 1902/1973
Kind: finding-aid
Source: National Archives Catalog
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
NAID: 6087807
Rights: A description of a series of Bureau of Prisons records (Record Group 129), a United States government record, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The catalog marks use and access "Unrestricted." The cards belong to many individuals; none is reproduced here.

The series is a set of index cards for inmates of the Atlanta penitentiary. Cards for men received before 1938 give a name and an inmate number; later cards add race, residence, crime, sentence and parole data. The catalog lists 263 file units, each a run of digitized card images in an alphabetical name range.

This entry records one negative result. Capone’s card would be expected in the unit covering “Cambell, Virgil” to “Cardin, Roy” (file unit 351179329, 408 images). Paging images 250 to 340, the alphabetical run reads from “Cantwell” through “Capocia,” “Caponigro,” “Capotorto” and “Cappa,” with no Capone card at the expected position. The finding concerns this digitized copy only; it does not show that no card exists. Capone’s Atlanta commitment is documented by a separate record, and his receipt at Alcatraz from Atlanta on 22 August 1934 by the warden’s notebook page.

itemCommitment to the Atlanta penitentiary in lieu of Leavenworth (3 June 1933)Commitment paper of 3 June 1933 directing Capone's confinement at the U.S. Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, in place of Leavenworth.

itemAlcatraz warden's notebook page for Alphonse Capone, No. 85Bureau of Prisons form with Capone's Alcatraz identification photograph, holding a card numbered 85. It records his receipt from Atlanta on Aug. 22, 1934, his tax sentence, parole denied in 1935, and his transfer to Terminal Island in January 1939.

itemUnited States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia: Corridor in East Cell House (Department of Justice album)A mounted photograph from the Department of Justice album of a corridor in the east cell house at Atlanta, ca. 1900 to ca. 1925: tiers of cells along a long brick-walled corridor.