What Is The Yuma Territorial Prison?

Change over time; that is a common theme with everything in the world. The concept of punishment is no different in that regard. In the 16th and 17th century the common view for punishing people was retaliation from the king and to be done in the town square. In what seemed to be all of a sudden, there was a change in human thinking, the concept of punishment changed to a more psychological approach compared to a public embarrassment/torture approach. The following paragraphs will discuss the development of prisons and what in fact gives people gives people the right to punish; as well as the overall meaning and function of prisons. The work by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison will help with the arguments

To try to prevent crime from occurring some believed that making the punishments severe would slow the growth of crime. The punishments you would receive, varied on how bad the crime was that you committed. If you were accused for adultery or manslaughter, you were more than likely punished with a whipping or branding. When punished with a whipping the number of hits usually varied between 10 to 30. When committing adultery, you usually were required 30 hits with the whip and a hot iron brand to the forehead. You were also made to wear something around your neck showing the crime you committed. These punishments were usually for men, women were normally sent to workhouses. Hanging was also a big punishment in the 1800s. Hangings were found to be entertainment and multiple people received a job during a hanging. (Source 2, Page 101) When hanging got out of hand, they began to send the criminals to other colonies to serve their sentences. They found that it was much cheaper than holding them in the English prisons where they were overcrowded and the traveling had to be paid for. The 1800s is known to be the worst of crime because of the increase of population and the issues with wealth. Escapes were very common because the jails were overflowing and it was too much for the people to keep up with. Not only were adults at risk but children of any age were too because society was so bad. As time moved along some of the

The conditions of the camp were unbearable. The prisoners were barely fed, mainly bread and water, and were cramped in small sleeping arrangements. "Hundreds slept in triple-tiered rows of bunks (Adler 51)." In the quarters that they stayed, there were no adequate cleaning facilities or restrooms for the prisoners. They rarely were able to change clothes which meant the "clothes were always infested with lice (Swiebocka 18)." Those were sick went to the infirmary where also there were eventually killed in the gas chambers or a lethal injection. The Germans did not want to have anyone not capable of hard work to live. Prisoners were also harshly punished for small things such as taking food or "relieving themselves during work hours (Swiebocka 19)." The biggest punishment was execution. The most common punishment was to receive lashings with a whip.

Prior to visiting the prison, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was nervous but also excited to see how everything operated. I had never been to a jail or a prison prior to this field trip. I was expecting to see one big building surrounded by high fences and coiled barbed wire. Once inside, I was expecting to see people dressed in orange doing various activities, much like in movies and television shows, even though I knew these weren’t true.

Before the 1820s, most prisons resembled classrooms where inmates lived in large rooms together like a dormitory. The newer prisons of the era, like New York’s Auburn Prison, shepherded men into individual cells at night and silent labor during the day, a model that would prove enduring. Women at Auburn, however, lived in a small attic room above

Some other punishments were leather strap used on to hit anywhere on the body, beating with fists, and until unconscious, burning and scalding the hands, starvation, public

What was life in the prison like? Only few people can answer that question, but The Yuma Territorial Prison was not only a prison, it also had other activities which the prisoners could get involved in so they would not spend all day locked in a cell. For example a very important part of the prison was the famous Library which was built inside the Yum Territorial Prison. It was not a very fancy library, the prison could hardly afford books for the prisoners and for the people of Yuma to use. This library did not only help the prisoners but also other people who were not inmates as well. The library was filled with books once Madora Ingalls got people to donate books and raise money for new books. Another thing they would do to raise money

Conditions inside the prison were no better. For starters, many of the prisoners were those who had committed menial crimes. Worse so, many were war heroes, back from Vietnam who couldn’t find a job and thus had to go about other illegal means to stay alive, and thus were thrown in prison. Attica prison in particular was famous at the time among prisoners for having the most horrific treatment of their inmates. Guards did whatever they could both legally and illegally to keep their prisoners in perpetual fear and discomfort. The prisoners were not just treated like children, but as animals. The one thing prisoners treasure the most is their contact with the outside world. It keeps them sane and allows them to remain in some type of contact both with their families as well as with what is going on outside the prison walls. But, guards did whatever

In the video it talks about how Pelican Bay State Prison is known for the thousands upon

These punishments or correctional aspects have done a great deal to the effects upon the prisoners. For the punishment of solitary confinement, this can go both ways. In one way if you put an individual in confinement they have time to think about the crime that they have committed and can give a good hard look at their life. Then on the other hand if you put someone in confinement where there is no noise, no light, and nothing to do this person can go mentally insane. When it began it was for the hardest criminals it has changed now a days to you get confinement for doing another crime in prison, being a disturbance, and/or refusing to do a request for the guards such as take a sheet off you window so they are able to see in on what you are doing, that way they can tell if you are okay or trying to do something illegal in prison. This would include drugs, wine, shanks, etc. also they are able to tell your mental state, if you are in imminent danger from yourself.

There is a loss of privacy for the prisoner, even though they are all alone in the cell, guards are constantly watching them. They are there watching every move they make. It is often argued that solitary confinement creates a loss of freedom because the prisoner is already taken away from society, but then also isolated again in prison. The idea of being surrounded by four walls for 23 hours of the day is frightening. Therefore, many prisoners develop suicidal thoughts, personality disorders, and mental illnesses such depression, anxiety, paranoia, bipolar, schizophrenia, and claustrophobia (ConnectUS, 2015). It can also be stated that the purpose of solitary confinement is often not effective because instead of having someone there to help them process what they did, they are isolated. Prisoners in confinement simply end up just waiting for time to pass by instead of thinking about their

There were 3,069 prisoners held at the yuma territorial prison. But there were many who were more well known than others. For example, one of the female prisoners Maria Moreno shot and killed her brother, she only had to serve one year. On July 1, 1876, seven convicts were led up Prison Hill, and placed in their permanent quarters. Those were the very first prisoners to arrive at the prison. The youngest prisoner was Charles Smith, fifteen, sentenced to one year for grand larceny. Another notable one is Ricardo Flores Magon he was sent to the Yuma Territorial Prison in 1906 for violations of the Neutrality Act. He died while still serving at the prison in 1922. William Jordan Flake was arrested in 1884 for unlawful plural marriage, he served

The Yuma Territorial Prison was opened July 1,1876. The first 7 prisoners admitted to the prison, had to build their own cells .THe prison was filled with a total of 3,069 prisoners including 29 women. The prison was opened for 33 years until it reached to the max and was transferred to Florence,AZ. It had been torn down and changed through the years. The prison also had been one of the first state penitentiary where it was built in the city of Yuma and surrounded by desert. During 1961 the Yuma Territorial Prison becomes the 3rd state park.In this research paper i will be elaborating a explanation of the yuma territorial prison, an assessment of the historical significance of the prison, an evaluation of primary

Alcatraz Island has quite a distinct history. Many people know that Alcatraz served as a federal prison, but most are reluctant to know that this island served as fort. Built before the Civil War, it served two main purposes. First, that it was to guard the San Francisco bay area from enemy ships against a foreign invasion, and second, to hold hostage prisoners of war or POW's as they were called. In this report, I'll show you how this fortress came to be a federal prison, why it is no longer in operation today, and most importantly, to show why it was built in the first place. When the great "Gold Rush" of 1849 first started, California grew from what would be considered a small, unpopulated state, into

Prisoners not abiding by silence or working rules were punished. Punishments ranged from diets of bread and water, banishment to the 'dark hole' or whippings with a cat-o'-nine-tail. (Johnson & Wolfe: 135)