The Yuma Territorial Prison is one of the main pillars of Arizona's growth as the Wild West was tamed. Its existence not only served as a beacon of civilization, but also of importance to those who resisted the natural progression of human expansion. As it existed, many saw it as a joke giving those inside an easy or concentration camp-like life, but in the midst of a civil war, the prison was turned toward the 'future. From near-modern advances to detaining those who refuse to be detained and even continuing to provide aid to those in Yuma for years to come. This article will use sources explaining the history of the prison and will focus on the experience, conditions and personalities of many prisoners as well as major events in the prisoners' lives explaining how the prison evolved during and after their stay. The prison, opened in 1876, was started by seven prisoners who built the first cells. As more cells were built, more prisoners were accommodated and more labor was available to build bigger, better, and faster cells. There were 3,069 prisoners, including 26 women, during the 33 years of prison, 350 at a time, most of them having committed crimes ranging from rape to murder and many others in between . No matter how cunning or dangerous they were, criminals didn't have much chance of escaping. Armed guards, deadly heat, an expanse of desert, an already secure structure, and fast-moving rivers that offered no hope for any prisoner were all complemented by a Lowell gun that was superior to the Gatling gun at the time. Manufactured by Ames Mfg. Co., it could fire up to 1,000 times per minute and was said to be accurate out to 1,000 feet under certain conditions, making it formidable to any prisoner dreaming of false freedom. However, for those who... .. middle of paper ......from stories of the time. While many sources claim to dispute wild perpetuation in their first paragraph, they then maintain an indefinite description of the prison and attempt not to give a detailed overview of the components and history of the prison before it became obsolete. life during its closure, apart from these. stories describing how wild the West was. With this, I was also unable to speak to any real prison experts, or visit the prison or those who survived, those who lived there on both sides of the law, which limited my knowledge and research to the Web, which, as previously mentioned, is limited by the lack of recent or very varied information. If there had been more sources that gave details about other characteristics of the prison, besides its capacity, I would have been able to give more than a generalized educated guess on how some prisons were.