Yuma Territorial Prison Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids The Yuma Territorial Prison
Main Gate to the Yuma Territorial Prison.
General information
Location	Yuma, Arizona, United States
Coordinates	32°43′37″N 114°36′54″W / 32.72694°N 114.61500°W / 32.72694; -114.61500
Opened	1876

The Yuma Territorial Prison is an old prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States. It opened a long time ago, on July 1, 1876, and closed its doors on September 15, 1909. Today, it's a cool historical museum where you can learn about its past. It's even listed on the National Register of Historic Places! Arizona State Parks now runs the site as the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.

The Prison's Story
- Building the Prison
- From Prison to School
In Movies and TV
Gallery
See also

The Prison's Story

Building the Prison

When the Yuma Territorial Prison first opened, Arizona was still a U.S. territory, not yet a state. The first person sent to the prison arrived on July 1, 1876. For the next 33 years, 3,069 prisoners lived there. This number included 29 women.

The prisoners themselves helped build and expand the prison. In 1909, the last prisoner left the Yuma Territorial Prison. They moved to a new, bigger prison in Florence, Arizona. The Yuma prison then became the third historic park in Arizona. There is also a graveyard at the park where 104 prisoners are buried.

From Prison to School

After the prison closed, the buildings got a new life! From 1910 to 1914, Yuma Union High School used the old prison buildings. This is where a funny story comes from.

One time, the school's football team played against a team from Phoenix. Yuma unexpectedly won the game. The Phoenix team was surprised and called the Yuma team "criminals." The Yuma High students thought this was great! They proudly adopted "Crims" as their nickname.

Today, the school's symbol is the face of a tough-looking criminal. Their student merchandise shop is even called the "Cell Block."

In Movies and TV

The Yuma Territorial Prison has appeared in many movies and TV shows. People are often interested in its history.

The short story "Three-Ten to Yuma" was written in 1953. It was later made into two movies:
- 3:10 to Yuma, a movie from 1957.
- 3:10 to Yuma, a remake from 2007.
The TV show 26 Men had an episode in 1957 called "Incident at Yuma." It was about a prison break.
The Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures filmed an episode called "Hell Hole Prison" at the prison. They explored its history of hauntings.
In November 2018, the YouTube series BuzzFeed Unsolved featured the prison. Their episode was called "The Terrors of Yuma Territorial Prison."
The podcast And That's Why We Drink talked about the prison in one of its episodes.
In October 2020, USA Today named the prison one of the top haunted places in America.