Lance Motta-Vilensky
Theft, murder, selling whiskey and the heinous crime of leaving a woman at the altar are just some of the reasons why you might have found yourself locked up in Yuma Territorial Prison during the late 1800s. Once there, you would have shared your 9 by 12 foot cell with five other prisoners, lice, bedbugs and perhaps a scorpion or two. Needless to say, there would have been no privacy when using the bucket bathroom. Surviving your sentence would have required that you overcome a few obstacles; things like sweltering heat, tuberculosis and in-prison murder. 3,069 people, including 29 women, paid their debt to society within the confines of the prison’s rock and adobe walls. 111 of them died during its 33 years of operation. For a closer look at how your life might have looked had you been locked up in Arizona, visit www.yumaprison.org and plan your incarceration today.