Essay On Yima Territorial Prison

Cibola High School

Prison Criminals

History About The Yuma Territorial Prison, 1876-2017

Derek Davis

Period 2

January 30,2018

Word Count: 1,408

The Yuma Territorial Prison is on of the main attractions of Yuma, Arizona.The Yuma Territorial Prison wasn’t just used as a prison. It was used many other ways. It was used as the shelter for the homeless during the Depression. It was a school at one point, and is now used as a museum. Even though the prison wasn’t part of the town, the people were still a part of it. The Yuma Territorial Prison was known for the way it treats its prisoners and all its strict rules. The prison had many positive effects on the town, but also had some negative ones. Since they were close to each other,

There are pros and cons since the prison was built close to Yuma. Benefits that the prison had been running water, and an air ventilation system, these made the prisoners more comfortable and most of the prisons at this time didn’t have those luxuries. Another pro was that they had a good sewage system, however, since they had the system raw sewage was pumped into the Colorado River which made the river water contaminated. This affected the civilians of Yuma in a negative way, and they didn't get water from that river, (Murphy, The Territorial Prison). Instead, they got their water from another river, which was the Gila River, they used this water to wash clothes, bathe, and to drink, since they couldn’t use the Colorado River. The town and the prison were so close to each other that no one thought of escaping. It was surrounded by something in every direction, which made escape nearly impossible. In the North there was the Colorado River, in the East, there was the Gila River, in the South there was desert, and lastly, in the West, there was the town of Yuma, (Murphy, Why Was The Territorial Prison Located In Yuma?). However, there were 26 convicts that escaped and were never captured. Even if the prison was not directly next to the town, they were in close

They were harsh, however, people still believed that they were a lenient comparison to the other prisons. Some rules that the prison had were that the prisoners must have good hygiene, most prisons don't usually care about what happens to the prisoners, (atlasobscura.com). They were not allowed to gamble or have playing cards in their possessions. They were also expected to obey the rules and keep their cells clean. If they didn’t do these then they were punished, (Yuma Historical Society). The most common punishment was solitary confinement, which was when prisoners were put into cells by themselves. Another punishment was the dark cell. It was a cell that was pitch black and it contained an iron cage in the middle of it, the prisoners would be chained up in the iron cage and only be fed bread and water once a day, which barely kept them alive. The dark cell was also called the snake den because prisoners started a “rumor” that the guards would intentionally drop snakes in there to harass the prisoners, they were given this punishment when they were caught possessing opium, refusing work, or stealing. There was also ball and chain, which was when the prisoners had to carry a heavy ball everywhere they went. The last punishment was when the guards chained the prisoners to the floor of the cell, they got these punishments when the prisoners attempted to escape, (Murphy, Rule Breaking within the Prison). During the 33