n 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.
|
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. |
Old Prison Entry Sallyport Gate |
|
 |
Yuma Territorial
Prison Cellblock housed over 3,000 prisoners over a period of 33 years. Of that
number on 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)
|
 |
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, 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.
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.
 |
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
|
 |
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).
The Arizona Prison at Florence was built by inmates and opened in 1908 replacing the
old Territorial Prison at Yuma. Convicts built the prison and lived in tents
scattered about the desert during the time it was under construction.
|
 |
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. |
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.
In 1933, due to an unfortunate incident of a death row prisoner during a hanging, a
reform of Arizona's death penalty in condemned hanging prisoners. The
new policy was to put prisoners to death by lethal gas.
In the first decade of the century, auto travel became popular, and Arizona responded
with a program to develop highways and improve existing roads. Convicts 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 convicts 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.
In 1968, the Department consisted only of three facilities:
the Arizona State Prison in Florence, the Arizona Industrial School at Fort
Grant; and the Arizona Youth Center in Tucson.
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 professionalization
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.
