YUMA TERRITORIAL PRISON
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YUMA TERRITORIAL PRISON |
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NAME: Yuma Territorial Prison COUNTY: Yuma ROADS: 2WD LEGAL INFO: 1 CLIMATE: Warm winter and hot-hot-hot summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: All year around |
COMMENTS:
Yuma Territorial Prison ("The Old Territorial Prison") is notthe Ghost town, but the place was once home for many people. REMAINS: Cells, dark cell, main gate, guard tower and cemetery. |
| Yuma Territorial Prison ("The Old Territorial Prison") is not the Ghost town, but the place was once home for many people. The Old prison is on Prison Hill Road in the historic part of Yuma, not far away from Yuma Crossing-Quartermaster Depot. It is not hard to understand why Yuma was chosen as place for the prison. In the territorial days Yuma was (and still is) the hottest and driest place where the settlers chose to build theirs homes. It was 170 miles of nothing to San Diego and 220 miles to Tucson in another direction, and that made Yuma one of most isolated places in Arizona. The Territorial Prison, also known as "Hell Hole" and "Devil's Island" opened in the Arizona desert on July 1, 1876 when the first 7 inmates entered the prison and they were locked into the new cells they built themselves. All over the country the prisoners were sent to Yuma and placed in the cells which were 3x3 meters where the temperature was almost over 110ºF in the summer and where the prisoners were chained to the stone floors and walls in the dark cells. The Prison closed in the year 1909 and in the time of its existence here, there were a total of 3069 prisoners, of which 29 were women. Only 26 prisoners (this is less then 1 each year) were successful to escape from Yuma prison and 8 died from gunshot wounds. 111 prisoners died during the time they served their sentences, most of them from tuberculosis, which was passing through the territory. There were no executions in the prison. The only punishments was the dark cell for inmates who broke prison regulations (they were chained to the stone floor) and the ball and chain for those who tried to escape. Prisoners had access to regular medical attention and to hospital, access to schooling, and many of them learned to read and write in the prison. In 1907 the prison was overcrowded and there was no more room on Prison Hill for expansion. The convicted prisoners built a new prison in Florence, AZ, and the last prisoners left Yuma prison on September 15, 1909 and the prison closed. The empty prison's buildings were occupied by the Yuma Union High School from 1910 to 1914. In the 1920s, the empty cells provided free lodging for hobos (hoboes) and shelter for many homeless families during the Depression. Fires, townspeople who take free building materials and railroad construction, destroyed the prison walls and prison buildings, except the cells, main gate and guard tower, which provide today a glimpse of how life was in the prison for a century ago. Across the prison is the old prison cemetery, where the prisoners were buried. The Old Territorial Prison is worth a visit and is a good place to learn about the history. Fee is:* $5 for adults, $4 for children from 12-17 years, free for children under 11 years. All photos by Bobby Zlatevski Submitted by: Bobby Zlatevski *Note: My grandmother, Emily C. Underhill would watch for aircraft during WWII from the Guard Tower at the Prison. Corrections to spelling and some wording done by Carole Johnson, granddaughter of J. Hubert and Emily C. Underhill. |
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