Over a century ago in 1875 the construction began in what is now known as the Yuma Territorial Prison. Known to be one of many of Yuma’s historical artifacts the Territorial Prison was in operation for thirty three years, holding up to 3,069 prisoners and obtaining its first prisoner on July 1, 1876. Although the Yuma Territorial Prison was viewed as having a bad reputation, it actually treated the inmates fairly well. The prison maintained rules which were enforced and followed by the inmates. The way they lived within the prison and sadly the way some died while incarcerated there at the prison.
East of Gila River, north of the Colorado River, town of Yuma to the west, located on a top of a hill, was the prison known as The Yuma Territorial
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Some inmates called it the “ snake den “ maybe because a prisoner got bitten by a snake while in there ( Murphy 1999 ). The dark cell which was a room that was fifteen feet by fifteen feet and contained an iron cage, the only source of light they had came from a small vent in the ceiling that is a reason why it was nicknamed the dark cell. Contact with any other inmates while in the dark cell was forbidden. The longest someone spent in the “ dark cell “ was one hundred and twenty days, the inmate never spent a day in there again! Furthermore while in the cell, they were only given bread and water once a day. Inmates were sent to the Dark Cell when they disobeyed, such as if they did not go to bed when told to, were not clean in person, or their clothing and if their cell was not clean, were not quiet, orderly and decent in his/her behavior. Did not wake up when told to, did not shave once per week and did not get a haircut once per month, and many more.( Rules and Regulations for Yuma Territorial Prison 1895 ) If they did not get sent into the “ Dark Cell “, they had a chain that had a heavy ball attached to their ankles, or the chain was attached to the floor of their cell and to their ankle. In all the thirty three years of operation, only one hundred and eleven deaths occurred. Six inmates died from suicide, five from a work accident, two were murder from another inmate, and eight inmates died trying to escape and fatally shot by the guards trying to stop them from escaping. Fact about those eight people who died, they were counted as one of the one hundred and forty inmates that tried escaping and out of those one hundred and forty inmates, only twenty six were successful and escaped. Anyways, one prisoner was executed in the Yuma courtyard, and the rest were natural deaths, like disease, old age, tuberculosis, and many other reasons. ( Tuberculosis: The Real Killer
Okubo explains that they were kept in horse stables that were filthy and small. During the day it got extraordinarily hot and at night it was freezing. At any point in the day they were exposed to rattlesnakes and unsanitary conditions. The camps were fenced in with barb wire and guards were on duty all day. It was impossible to reach freedom.
The territorial prison is significant to the city of yuma because it developed yuma’s economy, changes yuma’s population as well as give other uses to the city besides a correction facility. Thanks to the prison, it gave a boost to the city's population while being a correction facility and a state park. During the prison’s earlier days the population spike up 4 years after construction and a major increase 14 years in operation.
John Henry was one of these prisoners. The state of Virginia had become so much in debt that they had given the railroad over to a railroad tycoon by the name of Collis P. Huntington. Huntington had tried to get the Irish to work on the C&O railroad because they were a part of the cheap labor system. The Irish however did not want to work for Huntington because they did not like the dangerous conditions that his workers faced. Huntington was using nitroglycerin which was very dangerous because it was more powerful than
The different regulations that the Yuma Territorial Prison showed us are the kinds of values that were in place during that time period. Most prisons wouldn’t care about how the prisoners ended up after
The regular cells would separate the inmates by what their crime was, if their crime was big there was cells located in the middle of the prison. I think that it was created like that so the guards could watch them because they are more harmful to the other inmates and the guards. The prison was a big impacted on yuma. There was a school built because of the prison, it was a high school named “yuma high school” and it was named after the prison. The school had a lot of athletics and they had a nickname, “crims”, “yuma criminals” The first graduating class was in 1913.
So in a way the prison started yuma and the development of
In 1875 construction began on the most luxurious and only prison in Arizona at the time before the building of the Florence prison by the first seven prisoners. Due to those seven prisoners construction help the prison was able to be in operation for 33 years,having over 3,000 men and women serve their time. This newly built prison was called the “Yuma Territorial Prison” aka the “Country Club on The Colorado” However the Yuma Territorial Prison had a significant impact on Yuma and other surrounding southwest states by allowing Yuma and prisons to boost both economically and physically. Which was done by increasing Yuma’s population/economy,boosting the standards of prisons,and providing Yuma with the needed supplies and influence to redesign/rebuild
The conditions were often described and unhealthy, unsanitary, and overcrowded. Inmates were often left naked and physically abused and left in horror. The inhumane conditions usually lead to inmates death, attempted suicide or becoming physically and mentally ill.
These deaths occurred because of diseases and afflictions resulting from the crowded conditions, lack of adequate shelter, poor water supply, and nutritional needs not being met. Deaths also resulted from violence within Andersonville. This violence came in the form of gunshots from guards killing prisoners crossing the deadline and from violent encounters within the prison community itself, including six executions carried out against individuals convicted by the prisoners themselves. The hell that was Andersonville finally ended with the South’s surrender April
The Yuma Territorial Prison seemed like a luxurious place to be if you weren’t actually inside. Some people spent their life there working and suffering. Many would be buried in the cemetery but some souls would continue to live there. It was much more secure than most of the prison created at that time. It was surrounded by desert and the Colorado River.
The Yuma Territorial Prison was not like typical prisons by today’s standards or the standards of other prisons in the 1800’s. The construction and architecture of the prison was one thing that was unique. The prison was not only built by the prisoners, but (even more unique by today’s standards) was built entirely by hand without the use of any form of power tools. As for the architecture, all of the guard towers had huge peaked roofs that were used as insulation by creating more airspace between the roof and the actual building.
“Prison camps during the Civil War were potentially more dangerous and more terrifying than the battles themselves. A soldier who survived his ordeal in a camp often bore deep psychological scars and physical maladies that may or may not have healed in time. 56,000 men died in prison camps over the course of the war, accounting for roughly 10% of the war 's total death toll and exceeding American combat losses in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. “
There were many prison camps used during the Civil War and they were all terrible. The prison camps during the Civil War helped claim the lives of thousands of the deaths from the Civil War, and most people don’t know how much of an impact the prison camps had on the total number of deaths throughout the Civil War. They killed thousands of soldiers on both sides, making an impact on each side’s soldier count, and adding another fear to the soldier’s head. The prison camps used during the Civil War killed as many as 56,000
B. Kelly, thought that it would help boost the city’s economy. Another reason why the prison was built in Yuma was because the location would have been perfect. Since the Gila River was on the east of where they planned on building and the Colorado was North, with Yuma to the West it discouraged prisoners from escaping. The fact that the prison would be 170 miles away from San Diego, California and 220 miles away from Tucson, Arizona (Zlateuski web) even the thought of prisoners escaping would be highly unlikely. Lastly, Yuma’s weather was miserable there was nothing but dry heat for most of the
In 1852, their wish was granted and the state purchased 20 acres of land at San Quentin for $10,000. The Waban arrived on July 14, 1852 with about 40 to 50 convicted criminals. There, they began to work on building the prison. On Oct. 12, 1852, a “contract was let for the first cell building.” The first permanent prison was completed in 1854.