We finished packing the van and the motor home with the items from the hamfest. It was late and dark when we got back from the BBQ dinner and prize drawing.
We drove the short distance to the Yuma Territorial Prison. I had been there many years ago but this would be the first time for Evelyn. It has changed a lot since I was there. It has been commercialized with a gun fight with class C actors, if that good. There is even a hot dog cart there selling all the normal chips, etc.
The prison is still pretty much as I remembered. It was built on a granite hill/mountain. Some of the cells were actually cut out of the granite. The main cell blocks were constructed of granite stones and cement as well as adobe. The adobe walls would be about 8' thick at the base and go to about 5' at the top. Most of the construction was done by prison inmates. As you can see the locks are placed so that they can not be reached from either cell. The cells were open on both ends and with a tin roof, it got quite
hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. It gets below freezing frequently in this area in the winter months.
A cell would contain 4 metal bunks with 3 men to the bunk, 12 men to the cell. The cells were only about 7' wide so there was not much room to move around.
They had a "black cell" where they put the inmates that did not want to follow the rules. It was dark, they would be shackled and fed bread and water. There was no sanitation, only a grate floor and the cell was cleaned every 2 or 3 weeks, depending.
Many inmates died of heat stroke or tuberculosis or other maladies. It was indeed a rough place to be and certainly not a place that you would want to return. The prison was only in use for 33 years and then it was closed and all of the prisoners were moved to a new prison in Florence, AZ, near Casa Grande.