Wyoming State Penitentiary

The panel mentions the death house in passing. Fourteen men were executed at this prison. The first two died on the traveling Julien gallows, the device that had hanged Tom Horn in Cheyenne in 1903, which used the condemned man's own weight to set off the drop. The 1916 building gave death row six cells and an indoor version of the same gallows, and when Wyoming changed to the gas chamber in 1936, it was installed in that building too. Nine men were hanged here and five were killed with hydrocyanic acid gas.

What the plaque says

Wyoming State Penitentiary The Wyoming State Penitentiary was constructed in different stages. The first con- struction occurred three years after statehood in 1893 following authorization by the Wyoming Territorial Legislature and the laying of a cornerstone in 1888. The original cellblock contained 104 cells for individuals, a concept based on the Auburn Plan, which emphasized rehabilitating prisoners. While this state penitentiary was to replace the territorial penitentiary in Laramie, construction was not complete until 1901. From 1901 to 1911 private parties contracted with the state to operate the prison and hired out prison labor in the community. The Board of Charities and Reform, in 1911, assumed direct operation of the penitentiary and convicts worked on public projects including Wyoming's first state highway system. During 1914 and 1915 a reinforced concrete wall, 12" to 18" thick, replaced the wooden stockade formerly ringing the grounds. In 1916, a building was constructed to house a kitchen, dining room, bakery and chapel and, ironically, a hospital and death house. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 for its architectural and historical significance, the Wyoming State Pen's buildings can be divided into three stylistic categories: Romanesque, Mission, and Utilitarian. The Romanesque structures— the administration building, cell block A, laundry, guard quarters-powerhouse complex, and commissary—are constructed of locally quarried sandstone. Inmates' treatment changed as penal philosophies changed. National prison reform movements in the 1920's and 1930's, for example, led to emphasis on rehabilitation. Prisoners worked outside the walls on a prison farm or within the walls in a privately owned shirt factory. Prisoners also went to school. These opportunities disappeared during the depression and WWII. Conditions deteriorated by the mid-1950s and the prisoners rioted. The riot led to more reforms such as work release and educational programs. By the late 1970's penologists deemed the aging facility unacceptable for housing prisoners. In 1981 the "old" Wyoming Pen closed and the prisoners transferred to a new facility south of town.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Fred Steele State Historic Site — 15 mi
  A fort built in 1868 to guard the Union Pacific's North Platte crossing, which became the collecting yard for railroad ties floated down the river.

More markers nearby

• Rawlins — 0.3 mi
• Rawlins Springs — 0.7 mi
• Rawlins Paint Mines — 2.2 mi
• The Parco Inn — 6.6 mi