A prison as a tourist attraction? It wasn’t exactly high on my list of places to see.
But of course it turned out to be much more interesting then I thought.
The information above reads, “The prisoners made their own shoes, uniforms, underwear, mattresses, bedding, hats, and furniture for use at the prison. Each inmate was assigned daily work details in the shops, grounds, rock quarry, adobe yard, wood yard, and prison construction. For their labor they earned time off their sentence called “good time.”
In all the years that the prison was open, there were only 2 successful escapes.
Since I come from a family of book lovers, I thought it was interesting to read about the library.
In addition to lace, the inmates also made items out of horse hair, onyx, wood, and metal.
Some of these items were on display and very impressive.
Once when we were shopping, Summer saw some t-shirts that said “Yuma Criminals.” She thought that was a terrible thing to put on a t-shirt, until I told her the story about how the high school had to use the prison for several years.
The Guard Tower
Up in the Guard Tower
If you click on the above picture it should enlarge for easier reading.
Prisoners learning skills to become productive citizens? Wow, maybe our modern prisons could learn something. Also, I thought it was fascinating about the electric dynamo.
Luie attempts to get a good view, but the metal was too hot.
The kids were given a sample of sassafras candy. Summer thought it was so good that she had to buy a whole bag.