In 1868 the Fifth Territorial Legislature met and
proposed a bill calling for a prison to be located near Phoenix. Although
the bill was passed construction did not begin to the defray of construction
cost.
Later in 1875 the Eighth Territorial Legislature proposed another bill
calling for the establishment of a penitentiary. Granville H. Oury
introduced the legislation which would have placed the Territorial Prison in
the Phoenix area but representatives from Yuma, Jose Maria Rendondo and R.
B. Kelly, inserted the name Yuma where Phoenix had been and Governor Anson
P.K. Safford signed the bill, resulting in the Territorial Prison built in
Yuma. Between the years of 1875 and 1909 the Yuma Territorial Prison
held some of the most notorious desperados of the old southwest. A resident
of Yuma, A. L. Grow submitted the plans for construction of the prison and
won $150 for his endeavor. The land for the construction of the prison
was donated to the Territory by the village of Yuma and the work was soon
underway. On February 18, 1876 a ceremony was held on Prison Hill
which celebrated the laying of the cornerstone. On July 1, 1876 seven
convicts were led up to Prison Hill and were placed in the quarters they
helped build.
 Old Prison Entry Sallyport Gate
Imprisoned at Yuma were men and women from
twenty-one different foreign countries including Mexico China,
Russia, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Germany, and England. Female
convicts were incarcerated at the Prison beginning on November 11,
1878. In addition, many of the desperados were American-born
Blacks, Mexicans, Anglos, and Indians. The men and women serving
time at the prison also represented a number of trades and
occupations. There were prostitutes, carpenters, cooks, farmers,
gamblers, wheelwrights, sailors, and laborers. The age span in the
Yuma Territorial Prison ranged from 14 to 88 years and also
represented virtually every ethnic and religious background. Many
women were inmates but, they were quickly pardoned by the governor.
Yuma Territorial Prison
Yuma Territorial Prison
Cellblock housed over 3,000 prisoners over a period of 33 years. Of
that number 111 prisoners died while incarcerated. Many of them
are buried in the prison cemetery to the east of the prison. Of
the deaths 1/3 were from Tuberculosis, a common disease of the
time. Typhus, Scarlet Fever, and Smallpox due to unsanitary
conditions present during that time. Although the prison was clean
and had a clean source of drinking water, the town did not.
It was an old myth popularized by dime novels and Western movies that no
prisoner ever escaped from the Yuma Territorial Prison. Twenty-six convicts
escaped from the Prison and were never captured, and at least two of these
escapes were made within the confines of the prison walls. Prison guard
position were highly sought after, but the only way get a job was to know
someone. The job paid $75.00 per month (The average wages for workers in
1900 was about $41.00.)
Various punishments were used within the prison walls to ensure
discipline was maintained in the prison population. The most notorious of
these punishments was the Dark Cell. Dug into the caliche hillside, the
dark cell was a room about 10 feet by 10 feet and contained an iron cage in
which the prisoners would be locked. The only light came from a small
ventilation shaft in the ceiling and contact with other people was
forbidden. Bread and water was given once a day and prisoners were stripped
to their undergarments. The Dark Cell was nicknamed the snake den, only
the most serious of all punishments were subjected to the dark cell.
(Rules)
Punishments for Infractions of Rules & Regulations
Solitary confinement
was the most common punishment and was used for everything from
cooking in the yard, fighting and bad language. Less stringent
punishment options including chaining a prisoner to the ring set
into the floor of the cell, or a ball and chain placed around
the prisoner's ankle for such crimes as attempted escape.
| Attempting
to escape |
4 to 22 days
solitary
22 to 43 days with ball & chain |
| Assaulting
another convict |
2 to 10 days
solitary |
| Becoming
intoxicated on bay run |
7 days
solitary |
| Changing
cells |
2 days
solitary |
| Cooking in
yard |
6 days
solitary |
| Destroying
property |
3 to 4 days
solitary |
| Disobedience |
3 to 10 days
solitary |
| Disobeying
dining room rules |
2 to 11 days
solitary |
| Disorderly
conduct |
5 days
solitary |
| Entering
cells of women |
8 to 10 days
solitary |
| Fighting
with fellow inmate |
1 to 5 days
solitary |
| Gambling
with cards or dice |
3 to 10 days
solitary |
| Having opium
in possession |
17 to 22 days in Dark Cell |
| Indecency |
2 days
solitary |
| Making a
knife |
1 day
solitary |
| *Not bathing |
2 days
solitary |
| *Refusing to
Work |
4 to 11 days in Dark Cell |
| *Rioting |
6 to 24 months in incorrigible ward |
| Shirking
labor |
1 day
solitary |
| Scattering
trash around yard |
3 days
solitary |
| Smuggling
letters out of prison |
18 days
solitary |
| *Stealing |
3 to 28 days in Dark Cell |
| Talking
after taps |
3 days
solitary |
| Talking back
to officer |
12 days
solitary |
| Using
insulting or vulgar language |
1 to 8 days
solitary |
| *Writing
obscene or threating letters |
3 months in incorrigible ward |
 C.J. Jackson
C.J. Jackson (#3069), was the last prisoner admitted
to the Yuma Prison on July 20, 1909. He was convicted for Adultery
and was sentenced for 3 years. CJ Jackson was educated at the Army
School in South Carolina and was a stone mason by trade. He was
later transferred to the new Florence Prison on August 29, 1909.
The Yuma Territorial Prison remained open until September
15, 1909, when crowded conditions at the ever-growing prison forced the
removal of all prisoners to Florence. Strangers visiting Yuma should not
miss a visit to the Territorial Prison. There has been so much written and
said about the injustice and cruelty of confining persons here that
strangers should make a point of paying a visit to the institution in order
to be convinced of the fact that for coolness, cleanliness, care and humane
treatment, there is not a Prison in the world that can compare with the
Arizona Penitentiary. The prison has been designated as a
Historical Park.
Fort Grant
Fort Grant, now a prison, was originally a United States
Army Cavalry Post. Because of unhealthy living conditions at Old Camp
Grant, General Crook relocated the post some 45 miles northeast of the old
camp at the foot of towering Mount Graham. On December 19, 1872, Fort Grant
was established at the foot of Mount Graham by the direction of General
Crook. In January of 1873, eleven companies of cavalry and infantry were
transferred to Fort Grant, under the command of Major Brown. They
immediately started work on the construction of a commissary building,
officers' quarters and a wagon road up the side of Mount Graham.
Fort Grant
Troops patrolled Southeast Arizona and Western New Mexico, chasing small
marauding bands of Apache Indians and keeping the peace. Ft Grant was a hub
of activity during the Apache Campaigns. It boasted a quartermaster store
second to none. The building later called Brown's Folly was over 200 feet
long and 40 feet wide. It was constructed of solid stone and is still in
use. Troops from Fort Grant participated in the military campaign against
Geronimo which ended with Geronimo's surrender in August of 1886. In 1888,
the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry were used in civil duties and for
chasing train robbers. On May 11, 1889, Paymaster Major Wham was robbed of
$29,000 in gold and silver coins while en route to pay the soldiers at Fort
Thomas and Fort Apache.
Starting in 1900, Fort Grant was a collection point for troops going to the
Philippines during the Spanish American War. On October 4, 1905, Captain
Jenkins marched Troop D across the parade grounds for the final time. The
troops were transferred to Fort Huachuca and Fort Grant was left to a
caretaker. In 1912, the federal government turned over Fort Grant to the
new state to be used as the State Industrial School for Wayward Boys and
Girls. Ft Grant had a taste of delinquency long before the State Industrial
School was moved there. William H. Bonney (AKA Billy the Kid) allegedly
killed a man at this frontier outpost in a fight.
In 1968, the Arizona State Legislature passed a bill making the Fort
Grant State Industrial School a part of the State's Department of
Corrections. In 1973, Fort Grant became an adult male prison. In December
of 1997, the Arizona State Prison at Fort Grant became the Fort Grant Unit
of the Arizona State Prison Complex Safford (ASPC-Safford).
 Soldiers making Adobe brick of
dirt for Fort Grant buildings - 1890
 The Quartermaster's Storehouse
Fort Grant Circa 1885
 1st Cavalry Standing Inspection
Fort Grant Circa 1880
Florence
The Arizona Prison at Florence was built by inmates and opened in 1908
replacing the old Territorial Prison at Yuma. Inmates built the prison and
lived in tents scattered about the desert during the time it was under
construction. The new prison was a distinct improvement over Yuma. There
was no dungeon, no solitary confinement and no snake hole (the Yuma prison's
infamous cave for rebellious prisoners). Instead, the prison at Florence had
a death chamber. It was located one floor above the cells on death row. The
chamber itself was a scaffold, and in the floor, a trap door was
constructed, through which the bodies of the hanged fell into a room below.
 |
|
This was
the administration building at Arizona State Prison in Florence,
sometime in the 1930's. At the time of this photograph, Arizona
law provided for death by hanging in capital cases.
|
In 1933, due to an unfortunate incident of a death row prisoner during a
hanging, a reform of Arizona's death penalty condemned hanging
prisoners. The new policy was to put prisoners to death by lethal gas.
Presently, Arizona Law authorizes lethal injection for inmates sentenced to
death after November 15, 1992. If the inmate was sentenced prior to that
date, the inmate may choose between lethal gas or lethal injection.
In the first decade of the century, auto travel became popular, and
Arizona responded with a program to develop highways and improve existing
roads. Inmates from the prison in Florence were a ready pool of cheap
labor. In October of 1913, seventy-five prisoners arrived by train in
Bisbee and were hauled over the pass in mule-drawn wagons to the prison camp
in Tombstone Canyon. Prison road gangs built the highway over the mountain
pass between Bisbee and Tombstone. The inmates also improved a stretch of
the Douglas Highway, and built a bridge at Fairbanks over the San Pedro
River. Today, a concrete monument commemorates the completion of the
road. The road is still open, but today it is used mostly by hikers, joggers
and cyclists.
The number of prisons over the years has expanded from the original
prison site at Florence, to a total of 10 large prison complexes: ASPC-Florence,
ASPC-Phoenix, ASPC-Winslow, ASPC-Eyman, ASPC-Douglas, ASPC-Perryville, ASPC-Safford,
ASPC-Tucson, ASPC-Yuma and ASPC-Lewis. The Department also operates the
Southern Arizona Correctional Release Center in Tucson for Women.
Additionally, there are four private prisons in Arizona which are monitored
by the department, ASP-Phoenix-West, ASP-Marana, ASP-Florence-West, and
ASP-Kingman. As well, there are two private prison located outside of
Arizona, the Diamondback facility in Watonga Oklahoma, and the Reeves County
Detention Center III in Pecos Texas.
The Department's responsibilities not only include the incarceration of over
34,000 inmates in prisons located all over the state, but also the
supervision of more than 4,000 inmates who have been paroled or statutorily
released from prison before their entire sentence has been served.
The Department has made great strides in improving recruitment of
professional correctional officers. The Recruitment Unit for Selection and
Hiring (RUSH) was
established to attract more qualified men and women to the job of
correctional officer. On May 15, 1984, the governor signed the Correctional
Officers Training Bill into law. The Correctional Officers Training Academy
(COTA) was established to centralize and enhance training of officers,
requiring them to undergo a 360-hour curriculum of academics, self defense,
firearms qualifications, fitness, and ethics. The academy is located in
Tucson, Arizona.
Under the guidance of
Director Dora Schriro, today's Department of Corrections believes
in a philosophy of holding inmates directly accountable to the people and
communities of the State of Arizona, and giving inmates the opportunity to
acquire the values, skills, and habits that will enable them to be
successful citizens upon their release into society. As a result,
corrections officials strive to make life inside prison resemble life
outside of prison as much as possible.
Arizona Department of Corrections' Strategic Goals:
#1. Improving public safety now through facility and field operations by
employing corrections best practices.
#2. Improving public safety later be reducing offenders relapse,
revocation, and recidivism.
#3 Recruiting, retaining, and recognizing excellent ADC staff to
represent the flagship agency.
#4 Providing
victim focused and victim friendly services to crime victims and survivors.
The Expansion ADC
The number of prisons over the years has expanded from the original prison
site at Florence, to a total of 10 large prison complexes: The
ASPC-Florence, which includes the
minimum security Picacho Unit near Eloy;
ASPC-Phoenix, which includes a
minimum security unit near Globe, the Arizona Correctional Facility for
Woman (ACW), and ASPC-Aspen;
ASPC-Winslow, which includes a
minimum security unit near St Johns;
ASPC-Eyman, also in the Florence area;
ASPC-Douglas;
ASPC-Perryville;
ASPC-Safford;
ASPC-Tucson;
ASPC-Yuma
and
ASPC-Lewis. The Department also
operates the Southern Arizona Correctional Release Center in Tucson for
Women. Additionally, the Department has contracted for the privatization of
three prisons at
ASP-Phoenix-West,
ASP-Marana,
ASP-Florence-West, and
ASP-Kingman.
The Department's responsibilities not only include the incarceration of tens
of thousands of inmates in prisons located all over the state, but also the
supervision of more than 4,000 inmates who have been paroled or statutorily
released from prison before their entire sentence has been served. The
Department has made great strides in improving recruitment and
professionalism of its correctional officers. The Recruitment Unit for
Selection and Hiring
(RUSH)
was established to attract more qualified men and women to the job of
correctional officer. On May 15, 1984, the governor signed the Correctional
Officers Training Bill into law. The Correctional Officers Training Academy
(COTA)
was established to centralize and enhance training of officers, requiring
them to undergo a 280-hour curriculum of academics, self defense, firearms
qualifications, fitness, and ethics. The academy is located in Tucson,
Arizona.
Today's Department of Corrections believes in a philosophy of maintaining
effective custody and control over offenders; maintaining a healthy, safe,
and secure environment for them; and providing quality programs to offenders
so they will have opportunities to learn more responsible behaviors and
increase their chances of returning to society as law-abiding citizens. The
Department of Corrections undergoes change regularly as the social and
political environment changes, and the citizens of Arizona grow increasingly
tired of crime.
Superintendents of Yuma Territorial Prison 1875 - 1912
| 1875 - 06/1876 | W. A. Werninger - He was Sheriff of Yuma
County when the prison was constructed and housed convicts in the County
Jail during the period of construction - Appointed by Governor A. P. K.
Safford |
| 06/1876 - 01/1880 | George M. Thurlow - Appointed by Governor J. P. Hoyt |
| 01/1880 - 11/1880 | W. A. Werninger - Appointed by Governor John C. Fremont |
| 11/1880 - 03/1881 | George M. Thurlow - Appointed by Governor John C. Fremont |
| 03/1881 - 1886 | C. V. Meeden - Appointed by Governor F. A. Tritle |
| 1886 - 04/07/1888 | Thomas Gates - Appointed by Governor C. M. Zulick |
| 04/12/1888 - 07/1890 | John H. Behan - Appointed by Governors Zulick and
Wolfley |
| 07/1890 - 12/1891 | Frank S. Ingalls - Appointed by Governor Lewis Wolfley |
| 12/1891 - 04/1893 | M. M. McInerney - Appointed by Governor John N. Irwin |
| 04/1893 - 05/28/1893 | William K. Meade - Appointed by Governor N. O. Murphy |
| 07/06/1893 - 03/13/1896 | Thomas Gates - Died March 13, 1896 - Appointed by
Governor L. C. Hughes |
| 03/13/1896 - 05/01/1896 | M. F. Shaw - Appointed by Governor Benjamin J.
Franklin |
| 05/01/1896 - 07/31/1897 | Mike J. Nugent - Appointed by Governors Franklin and
M. H. McCord |
| 08/01/1897 - 09/09/1898 | John W. Derrington - Appointed by Governor M. H.
McCord |
| 09/10/1898 - 09/01/1902 | Herbert Brown - Appointed by Governors McCord and A.
O. Brodie |
| 09/01/1902 - 10/1904 | William M. Griffin - Appointed by Governor A. O. Brodie |
| 10/1904 - 06/1905 | B. F. Daniels - Appointed by Governor A. O. Brodie |
| 07/1905 - 02/1907 | Jerry Millay - Appointed by Governor Joseph H. Kibbey |
| 03/1907 - 03/1912 | Thomas Rynning - Appointed by Governors Kibbey and Richard
E. Sloan
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