The Yuma Territorial Prison is a former

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

located in

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

, United States. Opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909. It is one of the

Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites Yuma Crossing is a site in Arizona and California that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across the Colorado River. It connected New Spain and Las Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in and also durin ...

on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in the

Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area Yuma Crossing is a site in Arizona and California that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across the Colorado River. It connected New Spain and Las Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in and also durin ...

. The site is now operated as a historical museum by

Arizona State Parks } An Arizona state park is an area of land in the U.S. state of Arizona preserved by the state for its natural, cultural, or recreational resources. The state park system in Arizona includes both state parks and state historic parks, as well as ...

as Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.

History

Prison

Opened while Arizona was still a U.S. territory, the prison accepted its first inmate on July 1, 1876. For the next 33 years 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, served sentences there for crimes ranging from murder to polygamy. The prison was under continuous construction with labor provided by the prisoners. In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in

Florence, Arizona , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = Main Street original town-site of Florence Arizona National Register of Historic Places.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Main Street of the original town ...

. It was also the third historic park in Arizona. The state historic park also contains a graveyard where 104 of the prisoners are buried.

High school

Yuma Union High School Yuma High School (often referred to simply as Yuma High) is the oldest high school in Yuma, Arizona. History The school was established in 1909. Yuma High's mascot came when the original school building was destroyed by fire in 1910. The school ...

occupied the buildings from 1910 to 1914. When the school's football team played against Phoenix and unexpectedly won, the Phoenix team called the Yuma team "criminals". Yuma High adopted the nickname with pride, sometimes shortened to the "Crims". The school's symbol is the face of a hardened criminal, and the student merchandise shop is called the Cell Block.

Notable inmates

Burt Alvord Albert "Burt" Alvord (September 11, 1867 – after 1910) was an American lawman and later outlaw of the Old West. Alvord began his career in law enforcement in 1886 as a deputy under Sheriff John Slaughter in Cochise County, Arizona, but turne ...

–

Cochise County Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city is ...

lawman and train robber *

Bill Downing Bill Downing a.k.a. William F. Downing (1860 – August 5, 1908) was a notorious outlaw during the Wild West era in Arizona. Downing had fled from the Texas Rangers posse who was after him when he came to Arizona. In Arizona, he was involved in th ...

– Train robber *

William J. Flake William Jordan Flake (July 3, 1839 – August 10, 1932) was a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who helped settle parts of Arizona, and was imprisoned at the Yuma Territorial Prison for polygamy. Life and ca ...

–

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

imprisoned for violating the

Edmunds Act The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882,U.S.History.com is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, declaring polygamy a felony in federal territories. The act ...

Pearl Hart Pearl Hart (born Pearl Taylor; 1871–1955) was a Canadian-born outlaw of the American Old West. She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States, and her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender. M ...

– stagecoach robber * "Buckskin Frank" Leslie – gunfighter and killer of

Billy Claiborne Billy Claiborne ( – November 14, 1882) was an American outlaw cowboy, drover, miner, and gunfighter in the American Old West. He killed James Hickey in a confrontation in a saloon, but it was ruled self-defense. He was present at the begin ...

Ricardo Flores Magón Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón (, known as Ricardo Flores Magón; September 16, 1874 – November 21, 1922) was a noted Mexican anarchist and social reform activist. His brothers Enrique and Jesús were also active in politics. Followers of ...

– Mexican revolutionary, founder of the ''

Partido Liberal Mexicano The Mexican Liberal Party (PLM; es, Partido Liberal Mexicano) was started in August 1900 when engineer Camilo Arriaga published a manifesto entitled ''Invitacion al Partido Liberal'' (Invitation to the Liberal Party). The invitation was addr ...

'' *

Pete Spence Pete Spence (born Elliot Larkin Ferguson; 1852–1914) was a small-time criminal known for his association with outlaw Cowboys Frank and Tom McLaury, and Ike and Billy Clanton, of Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Spence was also a suspect in the ...

– outlaw involved in the Earp-Clanton feud

In popular culture

(Listed chronologically) The Yuma Territorial Prison has been featured in: * "

Three-Ten to Yuma "Three-Ten to Yuma" is a short story written by Elmore Leonard that was first published in ''Dime Western Magazine'', a 1950s pulp magazine, in March 1953. It is one of the very few Western stories to have been adapted to the screen twice, i ...

", a 1953

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

written by

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thri ...

, and also in two film adaptations: * '' 3:10 to Yuma'', the

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

original (directed by

Delmer Daves Delmer Lawrence Daves (July 24, 1904 – August 17, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He worked in many genres, including film noir and warfare, but he is best known for his Western movies, especially '' Br ...

and starring

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...

and

Van Heflin Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin Jr. (December 13, 1908 – July 23, 1971) was an American theatre, radio and film actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man. H ...

), and the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

remake, also titled '' 3:10 to Yuma'', directed by

James Mangold James Allen Mangold (born December 16, 1963) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the films ''Cop Land'' (1997), '' Girl, Interrupted'' (1999), ''Walk the Line'' (2005), '' 3:10 to Yuma'' (2007), '' The Wolverine'' (2013) and '' Logan'' ...

and starring

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

and

Christian Bale Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including ...

. * ''

26 Men ''26 Men'' is a syndicated American Western television series about the Arizona Rangers, a law-enforcement group limited to 26 active members. By March 1958, the program was carried on 158 stations in the United States. The program was also broad ...

'', the 1957 episode "Incident at Yuma" of the syndicated western series of true stories of the

Arizona Rangers The Arizona Rangers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, noncommissioned civilian auxiliary that supports law enforcement in the US, state of Arizona. In 2002, the modern-day Arizona Rangers were officially recognized by the State of Arizona when the Leg ...

, focuses on a prison break and the difficulty of gathering a

posse Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates. Posse may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Posse'' (1975 ...

faced by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Thomas H. Rynning Thomas Harbo Rynning (February 17, 1866 – June 18, 1941) was an officer in the United States Army who served with Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War. He was also the captain of the Arizona Rangers, warden of Yu ...

, portrayed by Tristram Coffin. *"Hell Hole Prison" season 12, episode 8 of the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

show ''

Ghost Adventures ''Ghost Adventures'' is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Chann ...

'' was shot at the prison. focusing its allegedly history of hauntings. *In November 2018 the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

web series ''Buzzfeed Unsolved'' featured the prison on their episode "The Terrors of Yuma Territorial Prison." *The prison was one of the two featured stories on the 71st episode of the podcast ''And That's Why We Drink.'' *Named one of the top haunted destinations in America by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' in October 2020. Bonanza episode featuring Dean Jones as an inmate of Yuma Territorial Prison.

Gallery

Image:Yuma prison main guard tower.jpg, The main

guard tower A guard tower is any military tower used for guarding an area. These towers are usually operated by military personnel, and are structures built in areas of established control. These include military bases and cities occupied by military forces. ...

. Image:Yuma3-13-04 (9).jpg, Cells and the yard. File:Yuma Territorial Prison Cells.jpg, Prison cells with courtyard. Image:Yuma3-13-04 (17).jpg, Iron bunkbeds inside the prison. File:PeteSpence.JPG, A

mugshot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law e ...

of Pete Spence at the Yuma Territorial Prison in 1883. File:Pearl Hart with number.jpg, Pearl Hart at the prison in 1899. File:Alvord burt.jpg, Burt Alvord at the prison in 1904. File:Bill Downing.jpg, Bill Donning imprisoned in 1901.

References

External links

''Yuma Territorial Prison Museum and Park'' – Historic Yuma AZ

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20130510212138/http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/history/Historyindex.aspx AZ Department of Corrections: Early History, with Yuma Territorial Prison– ''

Arizona Department of Corrections The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry, commonly and formerly referred to as simply the Arizona Department of Corrections, is the statutory law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates in 13 prisons ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuma Territorial Prison History of Yuma County, Arizona Museums in Yuma County, Arizona Prison museums in the United States History museums in Arizona State parks of Arizona Government buildings completed in 1876 Defunct prisons in Arizona Buildings and structures in Yuma, Arizona American frontier 1875 establishments in Arizona Territory