Yuma Territorial Prison

The Yuma Territorial Prison
The Yuma Territorial Prison
	Main Gate to the Yuma Territorial Prison.
General information
Location	Yuma, Arizona, United States
Coordinates	32°43′37″N 114°36′54″W / 32.72694°N 114.61500°W
Opened	1876

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]^[9]

High school

Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings from 1910 to 1914.^[10] When the school's football team played against Phoenix and unexpectedly won, the Phoenix team called the Yuma team "criminals".^[11] 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.^[12]

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^[13]
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^[14]

In popular culture

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

"Three-Ten to Yuma",^[15] a 1953 western short story written by Elmore Leonard, and also in two film adaptations:
3:10 to Yuma, the 1957 original^[16] (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.^[17]
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.^[18]
"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.^[19]
In November 2018 the YouTube web series Buzzfeed Unsolved featured the prison on their episode "The Terrors of Yuma Territorial Prison."^[20]
The prison was one of the two featured stories on the 71st episode of the podcast And That's Why We Drink.^[21]
Named one of the top haunted destinations in America by USA Today in October 2020.^[22]

Bonanza episode featuring Dean Jones as an inmate of Yuma Territorial Prison.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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.

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 2010-09-09.
^ "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 2010-04-22. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
^ Yuma Territorial State Historic Park at Find a Grave
^ "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 17 August 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 26 July 2011. Retrieved 22 May 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 2021-06-24.
^ The Terrors of Yuma Territorial Prison, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2021-06-24
^ "LISTEN". And That's Why We Drink. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
^ "Halloween fright: These are the top haunted destinations in the US, according to readers". www.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2021-06-24.

External links

[1] Trafzer, Cliff; George, Steve (1980). Prison Centennial, 1876–1976. Yuma County Historical Society. p. 6. OCLC 906535980.

[2] "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park in Arizona | USA". azstateparks.com. Retrieved 2010-09-09.

[3] "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, AZ A". www.desertusa.com.

[4] "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park". www.sangres.com.

[5] "Wildernet.com". www.wildernet.com.

[6] "Yuma Territorial Prison – Arizona Ghost Town". www.ghosttowns.com.

[7] "Arizona Department of Corrections". Archived from the original on 2010-04-22. Retrieved 2010-05-27.

[8] Yuma Territorial State Historic Park at Find a Grave

[9] "Yuma Territorial Prison State Park Map" (PDF).

[10] Yuma Union – Yuma HS: History Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[11] "Save the Yuma Territorial Prison!". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2010.

[12] "Yuma Territorial Prison". Atlas Obscura.

[13] Jane Eppinga (November–December 1997). "Hellhole on the Colorado". American Cowboy. American Cowboy LLC: 88–89. ISSN 1079-3690. Retrieved 17 August 2017.

[14] "Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, Museum & Exhibits - Yuma's #1 Tourist Destination". Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, Museum & Exhibits – Yuma's #1 Tourist Destination.

[15] "Pop Culture 101 – 3:10 to Yuma".

[16] "3:10 to Yuma event includes Johnny Cash tribute | prison, yuma, campaign - Life - YumaSun". www.yumasun.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2022.

[17] "3:10 to Yuma (2007) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.

[18] "Hollywood - Chain Gang for Yuma Territorial Prison - Save the Prison - Yuma, AZ". Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.

[19] "Hell Hole Prison". Travel Channel. Retrieved 2021-06-24.

[20] The Terrors of Yuma Territorial Prison, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2021-06-24

[21] "LISTEN". And That's Why We Drink. Retrieved 2021-06-24.

[22] "Halloween fright: These are the top haunted destinations in the US, according to readers". www.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2021-06-24.

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Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	United States