Yuma Territorial Prison

19th-century prison in Arizona, US

32°43′37″N 114°36′54″W / 32.72694°N 114.61500°W / 32.72694; -114.61500Opened1876^[1]Websitewww.yumaprison.org

The Yuma Territorial Prison is a former prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States. Opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909. It is one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. The site is now operated as a historical museum by Arizona State Parks as Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.^[2]^[3]

History

Prison

Opened while Arizona was still a U.S. territory, the prison accepted its first inmate on July 1, 1876.^[4] For the next 33 years 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, served sentences there for crimes ranging from murder to polygamy.^[5] The prison was under continuous construction with labor provided by the prisoners.^[6] In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in Florence, Arizona.^[7] It was also the third historic park in Arizona. The state historic park also contains a graveyard where 104 of the prisoners are buried.^[8]

High school

Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings from 1910 to 1914.^[9] When the school's football team played against Phoenix and unexpectedly won, the Phoenix team called the Yuma team "criminals".^[10] 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.^[11]

Notable inmates

Burt Alvord – Cochise County lawman and train robber
Bill Downing – Train robber
William J. Flake – Mormon pioneer imprisoned for violating the Edmunds Act^[12]
Pearl Hart – stagecoach robber
"Buckskin Frank" Leslie – gunfighter and killer of Billy Claiborne
Ricardo Flores Magón – Mexican revolutionary, founder of the Partido Liberal Mexicano
Pete Spence – outlaw involved in the Earp-Clanton feud^[13]

In popular culture

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

"Forty Lashes Less One", a 1972 western novel by Elmore Leonard about a planned prison break in 1909, the year the prison was closed.
"Three-Ten to Yuma",^[14] a 1953 western short story written by Elmore Leonard, and also in two film adaptations:
3:10 to Yuma, the 1957 original^[15] (directed by Delmer Daves and starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin), and the 2007 remake, also titled 3:10 to Yuma, directed by James Mangold and starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.^[16]
26 Men, the 1957 episode "Incident at Yuma" of the syndicated western series of true stories of the Arizona Rangers, focuses on a prison break and the difficulty of gathering a posse faced by Captain Thomas H. Rynning, portrayed by Tristram Coffin.^[17]
"Hell Hole Prison" season 12, episode 8 of the Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures was shot at the prison. focusing its allegedly history of hauntings.^[18]
The prison was one of the two featured stories on the 71st episode of the podcast And That's Why We Drink.^[19]
Named one of the top haunted destinations in America by USA Today in October 2020.^[20]

Gallery

The main guard tower.
Cells and the yard.
Prison cells with courtyard.
Iron bunkbeds inside the prison.
A mugshot of Pete Spence at the Yuma Territorial Prison in 1883.
Pearl Hart at the prison in 1899.
Burt Alvord at the prison in 1904.
Bill Donning imprisoned in 1901.
Prison Cemetery.
Graves of prisoners.

References

^ Trafzer, Cliff; George, Steve (1980). Prison Centennial, 1876–1976. Yuma County Historical Society. p. 6. OCLC 906535980.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park in Arizona | USA". azstateparks.com. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, AZ A". www.desertusa.com.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park". www.sangres.com.
^ "Wildernet.com". www.wildernet.com.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison – Arizona Ghost Town". www.ghosttowns.com.
^ "Arizona Department of Corrections". Archived from the original on April 22, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison State Park Map" (PDF).
^ Yuma Union – Yuma HS: History Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Save the Yuma Territorial Prison!". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison". Atlas Obscura.
^ Jane Eppinga (November–December 1997). "Hellhole on the Colorado". American Cowboy. American Cowboy LLC: 88–89. ISSN 1079-3690. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
^ "Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, Museum & Exhibits - Yuma's #1 Tourist Destination". Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, Museum & Exhibits – Yuma's #1 Tourist Destination.
^ "Pop Culture 101 – 3:10 to Yuma".
^ "3:10 to Yuma event includes Johnny Cash tribute | prison, yuma, campaign - Life - YumaSun". www.yumasun.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
^ "3:10 to Yuma (2007) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
^ "Hollywood - Chain Gang for Yuma Territorial Prison - Save the Prison - Yuma, AZ". Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
^ "Hell Hole Prison". Travel Channel. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
^ "Listen". And That's Why We Drink. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
^ "Halloween fright: These are the top haunted destinations in the US, according to readers". www.usatoday.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.

External links

Yuma Territorial Prison Museum and Park – Historic Yuma AZ
Arizona State Parks: Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park website
AZ Department of Corrections: Early History, with Yuma Territorial Prison – Arizona Department of Corrections
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Yuma Territorial Prison
Yuma Territorial Prison – ghosttowns.com

Protected areas of Arizona

Federal

National Parks	Grand Canyon Petrified Forest Saguaro
National Historical Parks, Historic Sites and Memorials	Tumacácori NHP Fort Bowie NHS Hubbell Trading Post NHS Coronado NMem
National Monuments	National Park Service Canyon de Chelly Casa Grande Ruins Chiricahua Hohokam Pima Montezuma Castle Navajo Organ Pipe Cactus Pipe Spring Sunset Crater Tonto Tuzigoot Walnut Canyon Wupatki Bureau of Land Management Agua Fria Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Grand Canyon–Parashant Ironwood Forest Sonoran Desert Vermilion Cliffs
National Conservation Areas	Gila Box Riparian Las Cienegas San Pedro Riparian
National Recreation Areas	Glen Canyon Lake Mead
National Trails	Arizona National Scenic Trail Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail Old Spanish National Historic Trail
National Forests	Apache–Sitgreaves Coconino Elden Pueblo Honanki Heritage Site Palatki Heritage Site V Bar V Heritage Site Coronado Kaibab Prescott Tonto
National Wildlife Refuges	Bill Williams River Buenos Aires Cabeza Prieta Cibola Havasu Imperial Kofa Leslie Canyon San Bernardino
Wilderness Areas	See List of Arizona Wilderness Areas
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Fossil Creek Verde River

State

State Parks	Alamo Lake Boyce Thompson Arboretum Buckskin Mountain Catalina Cattail Cove Dankworth Pond Dead Horse Ranch Fool Hollow Lake Fort Verde Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Homolovi Jerome Kartchner Caverns Lake Havasu Lost Dutchman Lyman Lake McFarland Oracle Patagonia Lake Picacho Peak Red Rock Riordan Mansion River Island Roper Lake San Rafael Slide Rock Sonoita Creek Tombstone Courthouse Tonto Natural Bridge Tubac Presidio Verde River Greenway Yuma Quartermaster Depot Yuma Territorial Prison
Wildlife areas	Becker Lake Cluff Ranch Luna Lake Mittry Lake Powers Butte Santa Rita White Mountain Grasslands Willcox Playa

State Parks

Wildlife areas

Municipal

Nature parks	Papago Park Phoenix Mountains Preserve South Mountain Park

Other

National Natural Landmarks	See List of National Natural Landmarks in Arizona
National Historic Landmarks	See List of National Historic Landmarks in Arizona
Historic Places	See National Register of Historic Places listings in Arizona