YUMA TERRITORIAL PRISON

OVERNIGHTER

OCTOBER 31, 2006

8:00 P.M. TILL ???

Spend a night with the ghosts and the memories of the Old Territorial Prison. Sit in a cell and commune with those who sat there before you.

An excellent opportunity to capture EVP's and ghost images for many have done so.

$25.$25.00 per person

No Children under twelve

Children 12-15 must be with an adult at all times

Only 30 tickets available so act quickly

Call me at 480 924 0719 when you have your tickets.

Call Susie at 928-446 5137

for tickets and Paypal Information

More than 3,000 desperadoes, convicted of crimes ranging from polygamy to murder, were imprisoned in rock and adobe cells here during the prison's 33-year existence between 1876 and 1909. The cells, main gate and guard tower are still standing, providing visitors with a glimse of convict life in the Southwest. A century ago prisoners sat imprisoned in the middle of the Sonoran desert with no plumbing, only a bucket and no airconditioning with summer temperatures exceeding 100-degrees.

Seven inmates built the first cells at the prisons and walked into them on July 1, 187. A total of 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, lived within these walls during the prison's 33 life with crimes ranging from murder to polygamy, with grand larceny being the most common. Only a few served their full sentence for pardons and paroles were easy to come by.

One hundred and eleven people died, most from TB. There were 26 successful escapes and eight died trying to escape. The only punishments were the "dark cell" for inmates who broke prison regulations, and the "ball and chain" for those who tried to escape. No executions took place at the prison because capital punishment was administered by the county governments.

By 1907, the prison was severely overcrowded, and there was no room on Prison Hill for expansion. Convicts constructed a new facility in Florence, Arizona, and the last prisoner left Yuma on September 15, 1909.

The Yuma Union High School occupied these buildings from 1910 to 1914. Empty cells provided free lodging for hobos riding the freights in the 1920s and sheltered many homeless families during the Great Depression.

Yuma Prison State Historic Park is situated on 7 acres on a bluff above the Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona. It is located at the Fourth Avenue exit south from Interstate 8. After crossing the Colorado River, the entrance to the park is on the east side of Fourth Avenue.