Yuma Territorial Prison State Park opened its steel bar doors in 1876, before the prison was completed. It was the inmates responsibility to construct the cells, as well as make their own boots and iconic striped clothing. The museum, in the center of the state park, is full of relics and fascinating accounts of guards, escapees, deaths, and convictions (of both men and women). One of my favorite inmate stories is the woman who gave birth while incarcerated, completing two more years of her sentence, with her baby boy by her side.
In 1909, the prison became overcrowded and inmates were moved to another location. A little over a decade later, a third of the prison was destroyed in order to complete the nearby railroad line. The railroad line, and the Great Depression, brought hobos and squatters that regularly stayed in the cells and stole what they could. The city of Yuma pushed to have to have the prison protected, which finally happened in the 1960s.
Despite the heat and lack of plumming, Yuma Territorial Prison doesn’t seem like it would have been a terrible place to do time. There was an infirmary and one of the only public libraries in the area. Inmates were taught to read and they often had their time significantly reduced.
It would have been great to learn even more, but with a toddler running around, we learned what we could. We will definitely need to stop again the next time we head through Yuma.