Yima Territorial Prison Research Paper

Authorized by the legislature in 1875. To build a prison in one of the most hottest, driest, and isolated places in arizona. Building started on april 28, 1876 with the help of the prisoners sentenced to the facility and budget of $25,000, the jail was completed on july 1, 1876. It continue to be in operation for 33 years till 1909 when the florence prison was built and all inmates were transferred.(“Timeline - Yuma Territorial Prison Museum & Park - Historic Yuma AZ”) Closing the prison’s gates, stuck on the bluff by the colorado river.(“Yuma Territorial Prison - Arizona Ghost Town”)

The Yuma Territorial Prison first opened in 1875 and is still standing after 141 years. For many years people in Yuma fought to keep this prison a historical landmark. After all the years, many things have occurred to change the structure of the prison. The Yuma Territorial Prison did not allow prisoners to do certain activities that could affect them after they were released. The Yuma Territorial Prison can teach people about the different functions, regulations that reflected laws in Arizona, and the changes in the appearance of the prison.

The Yuma territorial prison west of the Gila River, south of the red river, east of the city of Yuma and north of the desert. It was located in that place because no one laughed that the prisoners were going to risk their lives trying to escape through the desert, swimming by the rivers with strong current or that some citizen saw them and reported to the authorities. In the year of 1876 the prison was opened, with a capacity of up to 350 prisoners, although in it they lived around 3000, including 29 women. According to the employees of that place, the prisoners were not only there to fulfill their punishment, but they also learned things, they had a series of rules that they had to follow to have a good behavior and thus have the opportunity

The Yuma Territorial Prison opened in 1875, but the first prisoners were not moved to the prison, in till 1876. Over three thousand prisoners were housed during the thirty-three years the prison was operational. Yuma Territorial Prison is perceived throughout its many roles as a luxury for the community in Yuma, Arizona. The community in Yuma, Arizona might think this because of the many benefits the prison gave the inmate’s and the town people. In view of the community the prison played many roles other than just being a prison.

The Yuma Territorial Prison was built for one reason, to keep prisoners in; however, the facility was used for many more causes. It was built as a maximum-security prison for inmates who would try to escape and/or could not be in any other prison. Even though the prison had a fearsome reputation, it was actually a model institution for its time. It was authorized by legislature to be built in 1875 and the prison itself operated for 30 years. It held a total of 3,609 prisoners and 29 of them were women.

How is the Yuma Territorial prison significant to the city of Yuma? How is the Yuma Territorial Prison significant to the Southwest region of the United States? Well, the Territorial Prison is significant to the city of Yuma and the Southwest region because the prison was the one thing that helped start to develop the houses and population of yuma. Also, the prison had helped influence and build some of the buildings in Yuma. After the prison closed down in 1909 it became a temporary school after a prison and after it was a school it became a museum which brought more people to yuma, like tourist because they wanted to see the prison.

The Yuma Territorial Prison was significant because it was a prison that eventually became a major historical landmark in Yuma, Arizona. The Yuma Territorial Prison was the ultimate location because of the work done by Jose Maria Redondo and R.B Kelly, they saw the potential the prison had to help the economy so that was why it was chosen over Phoenix, Arizona. Ever since the prison was first established the population of Yuma Arizona increased. It was the prisoners who had actually help construct the Yuma Territorial Prison. The prisoners would gather the building material from a quarry and from the river bottom.

The Yuma territorial Prison is a former prison located in yuma, Arizona, Opened in 1875, it is one of the yuma crossing and Associate sites on the National Register of Historic places in the Yuma crossing National Heritage area. Three significant this about the prison is the Education of yuma,The economy of the Yuma territorial prison , and how after the closing of the prison it became very useful. If the prison would have stayed open there would have been more reason to write about but it turned into a national park by the United States of America. And people now go there to see how it was to be a prison in the 1800-1900.

The Yuma Territorial Prison had started off as just a prison, but over the years it became more than that. According to Arizona Stories, the prison was first authorized

History of prisons- Why were they created? What is their purpose? What are we doing to actually reform them? a) Who has jail helped? Most inmates seen repeatedly coming in and out of jail?

The prison hasn’t just been used to provide a building, but its been used for it’s material and has been slowly torn apart. Piece by piece through time, parts of the prison have been torn down. In 1916, there was a flood in Yuma and what the townspeople used to rebuild were parts from the prison (Murphy 1). In order for the Southern Pacific Railroad to be built the western walls and the woman's cells had to be destroyed in 1923 (The Yuma Territorial Prison). More destruction was made when the hospital in the prison and the Mes Hall were burned down in 1924 (The Yuma Territorial Prison).

Alcatraz prison was opened to the public. In 1973 it was opened to the public. Every year about one million tourists go and visit the prison (“Alcatraz”). Alcatraz prison was a very strict prison. The prisoners had to follow the rules.

On October 12, 1933 The United States Department of Justice acquired control over Alcatraz island, and in August 1934 Alcatraz island officially became a BOP federal prison. The United States Department of Justice wanted to transform Alcatraz into a federal prison, because they wanted to build a maximum-security prison to be able to handle a criminal community too dangerous to be held in a normal U.S. prison. According to bop.gov “The Federal Government had decided to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons, and to show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious about stopping the rampant crime of the 1920s and 1930s”. Thus, some improvements have been made on the current structure of the prison, and the weak parts have been reinforced handle what’s coming. As stated in Howard Duff’s documentary “Early in the morning of October 11 1934, the first batch of 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz, arriving by railroad from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas at Santa Venetia, California, before being escorted to Alcatraz, handcuffed in high security coaches and guarded by some 60 special FBI agents, U.S. Marshals and railway security officials”.

Over a century ago in 1875 the construction began in what is now known as the Yuma Territorial Prison. Known to be one of many of Yuma’s historical artifacts the Territorial Prison was in operation for thirty three years, holding up to 3,069 prisoners and obtaining its first prisoner on July 1, 1876. Although the Yuma Territorial Prison was viewed as having a bad reputation, it actually treated the inmates fairly well. The prison maintained rules which were enforced and followed by the inmates.

The writer is very diverse in his subjects when detailing the prison mates. When describing the prison mates the reader will be surprised to know that