DOING HARD TIME in the HELL HOLE: True stories of the inmates in the Yuma Territorial Prison

From 1876 to 1909 the Yuma Territorial Prison was home to some of the most vicious and violent criminals in the Arizona territory. They were incarcerated for every imaginable crime known, and spent months, years or the remainder of their lives locked away from the sight of the world. Denied all but the necessities required to sustain life, they were required to labor daily in the continuous construction and refurbishment of the very enclosure that held them. The environment in which they lived suffered summer temperatures in the triple digits, and the prison was carved out of a hilltop of granite and gravely clay without a tree or bush to break the searing sun. It wasn't long before the prison on the hill next to Yuma was labeled the "The Hell Hole". Although future improvements did ease the hardship of their environment, the reluctant residents paid dearly for their unfortunate choice of profession. The pardon or parole was one way to escape the grim surroundings, but some suffered quicker and less fortunate ways to end their confinement. There were murders, suicides and medical deaths which shortened the sentences for 111 inmates over the years. These hapless few lie in the barren and windblown cemetery east of the prison. Their stories provide insight into the criminal lifestyle in a then untamed Arizona territory. Their crimes, the way they were hunted down, their subsequent life in the territorial prison and for a lucky few, life after the Hell Hole.