Yuma Territorial Prison

The Guard Tower

First a Prison:

Cells and yard at the Yuma Territorial PrisonThe 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.
Despite an infamous reputation, written evidence indicates that the prison was humanely administered, and was a model institution for its time. The only punishments were the dark cells for inmates who broke prison regulations, and the ball and chain for those who tried to escape.
In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in Florence, Arizona.

The Cell Block

Then a High School:
From 1910 to 1914 the Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings. When the school's football team played a game against Phoenix, with Phoenix favored to win, the Phoenix team branded the Yuma team "criminals" when Yuma unexpectedly won the school adopted the mascot with pride, sometimes shortened as the "Crims"; the school mascot image is the face of a hardened criminal, and the student merchandise shop is known as the Cell Block.

Now a Museum:
The prison was barely saved from destruction, empty cells provided free lodging for hobos riding the freights in the 1920s, and sheltered many homeless families during the depression. Townspeople considered the complex a source for free building materials. This, plus fires, weathering, and railroad construction, destroyed the prison walls and all buildings except the cells, main gate and guard tower; but these provide a glimpse of convict life a century ago. It is now an Arizona State Park but even at this it was recently threatened of closure and saved by a local Yuma citizen group.

Another view of the remaining Cell Block