Today, Dec 21, we drove over to visit the Yuma Territorial Prison. <<<Click the link for more info...Sunny and about 70. On July 1, 1876, the Prison opened its gates
for the first time to prisoners, and continued to accept prisoners, both male
and female, until it closed in 1909. The
last prisoners were transferred to the new Arizona State Prison in Florence,
Arizona.
Click photos to enlarge...
The prison has an interesting history, and is worth visiting
if you are in the Yuma area. Many of the
original cell blocks remain, but a lot of the buildings and exterior walls have
been demolished to make room for the railroad, or were destroyed in a
fire. This is a photograph of the prison
complex when it was in full operation.
At the time, the Colorado River came right up to the rocks.
The main guard tower was reconstructed on its original
site. The Sally Port remains intact, as
well as the buildings behind it, which are not visible on this photo.
The rock structure under the Guard Tower is
actually a granite tank that was built by the prisoners. The wood cover was built on top of it to help
control evaporation by the desert sun.
The roof was added later to shield the guards from the sun and was eventually
turned into living quarters for them as well as a guard structure
The Sally Port above is where the prisoners entered/exited
the prison. It was large enough to hold
a covered wagon, with both doors locked, for unloading the prisoners.
This is the row between the main cell blocks. Six prisoners were assigned to each cell, and
in 1901, iron bunks were installed, since the wooden bunks became severely
infested with bed bugs.
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| Looking into a cell |
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| Looking into a cell |
This is the exterior of the six-person cell blocks. The cage on the left is part of the
“incorrigible” ward that was built in 1904, and consisted of five steel cages.
When prisoners misbehaved, they were sent to the “dark
cell,” where they endured 24 hours of darkness, along with snakes and
bats. The guards would drop scorpions and snakes down the vent pipe to torment the prisoners. You can go down the hallway into
the dark cell, to experience what it was like.
We discovered the bats are still there…they didn’t like the
camera flash!
The prisoners, not surprisingly, hated the place, but the
local community thought the prison was more like a country club. The museum contains a lot of interesting
information about the prisoners, life at the time, and a display of weapons.
It all was real interesting! The place has been used in a lot of movies as a movie set. If you get to Yuma you should check it out!
