Yuma Territorial Prison

When we visited Yuma on our fall RV trip, we stopped at the Yuma Territorial Prison.  We had seen a TV show featuring it, and it sounded like an interesting place to visit.  The prison was authorized by Territorial Legislation back in 1875, and opened in 1876.   The prison functioned as a prison until 1909 when it closed, and all remaining prisoners were moved to Florence, AZ.  But, it didn’t remain unused for long.  The following year in 1910, it housed a high school (those children were justified if they referred to school as a “prison”!}, and then in 1914, became the County Hospital.  The hospital burned in 1924, and it wasn’t used again until 1931, when the VFW used part of it.  During the Depression, it was used to house the poor, until the remaining squatters were evicted in 1939.  In 1940, the Museum was built with New Deal funds, and operated until 1960.  In 1961, it became Arizona’s 3^rd State Park.  It’s had quite the varied history, but today, the focus of the prison is as its life as a prison.

Across the Colorado River from the Prison is “Indian Hill”, the site of La Purisima Conception mission.  Nothing is left of this mission, which was destroyed in 1781 when the native Quechans revolted, killing all European males.  Today, the St. Thomas Mission, built in 1922, which serves the Quechan Indian Nation.  Beyond that Mission is Fort Yuma, which was established in 1852 to protect those on their way to the California Gold Rush.  The bottom image is of the Colorado River, although you can’t see it for all the green trees!!

As we completed our walk around the front yard (as I thought of it), we saw the Guard Tower, which is actually just outside the entrance to the prison.  This tower is actually a reconstruction of the original Guard Tower, which served not only as a place where guards could view the inmates in at least part of the prison, but also as the place where the water supply for the prison was housed.  The view in the lower image is what you can see off to the east of the tower, which is the Yuma East Wetlands restoration project.

  

Next to the Guard Tower, is the Sally Port.  The sally port is one of the last remaining original adobe structures of the prison.  It served as the entrance and exit point for the prisoners.  In Oct, 1887, there was perhaps the most infamous attempted escape from the prison, and took place at the sally port.  Seven prisoners took Superintendent Gates as a hostage.  The Superintendent ordered guards to shoot, despite the danger to himself.  When the dust settled, 4 inmates were dead, another wounded, and the remaining 2 were recaptured.  The 3 surviving inmates were sent to the Dark Cell. The Superintendent suffered a knife wound to his neck, which later caused him to resign due to constant pain from the injury.

The next area we visited is the cell block.  It is another original area of the prison and primarily male inmates were housed here.  The top photo collection depicts the “hall” of cell blocks in the left image and the center image is an image where one of the cell doors was open and we could look into what was called the Dark Cell, where prisoners considered “incorrigible” were housed as punishment.  The photo on the right shows how they fit 6 bunks into one cell.  The photo collection below is information displayed in the Museum about a few of the prisoners.  Not displayed were the first prisoner housed here, William Hall.  

The prison wasn’t limited to male prisoners, however.  Women were also incarcerated there, too.  The first female prisoner was Lizzie Gallagher, who entered prison in 1878.  She was sentenced for man slaughter.  However, as there were no accommodations for women prisoners, she was kept in solitary confinement and pardoned and released after only 42 days.    Another prisoner, Manuella Fibres, who was sentenced for accessory to murder, gave birth to a baby boy in 1889.  The baby stayed with her for 2 years, at which point she was pardoned and released, out of concern for the boy.  It is said that although the guards missed the little boy, they were happy to see Manuella leave, as she was rather a trouble-maker.  In 1893, a separate women’s prison was completed, which is shown below (the door between the 2 white doors).  The image in the lower left of the photo collection is the doorway that led to the women’s open area.

There was a rather nice amenity at the prison – a library!  The library was dug out of this wall in 1893.  Today, there is a large mural on the back wall, which seems to suggest that at one point, the library was larger.  However, there was nothing to indicate that was truly the case.  I tend to think that the size of the cut-out was the actual size of the library.

In 1889, a hospital was established at the prison.  It appears that they also had a small infirmary as well.  In the above photo collection, the image on the left is the infirmary.  On the left is an image of the side of the cell block building.  The hospital used to be on top of the cell block, but it burned in 1924.

Only 2 prisoners ever escaped from the prison, and they are highlighted in the image on the left in the photo collection.  I found it rather interesting that neither was heard of again.  It’s possible that they hightailed it out of the area.  It’s also possible that they didn’t make it too far and ran into trouble they couldn’t handle.  The first inmate to be executed was Martin Ubillos, in 1905.  I found it interesting that the sheriff sent out invitations to the execution.

When we were up in the Guard Tower, we could see the prison cemetery about a quarter mile away (top image on the left). Records indicate that 104 prisoners are buried here.  We drove down to the cemetery when we were leaving the prison, and I got some closer images of the graves.  Pretty harsh gravesites, and I didn’t notice any headstones to identify the graves.  My assumption is that those records were kept by the warden, but I didn’t see one in the Museum.

Enjoy!