A little time spent on Death Row

(Prison Guard Renee and her vicious guard dog!)
As we made our way to South Dakota, we passed through Rawlins Wyoming, which is the site of the Wyoming Frontier Prison, which was Wyoming’s first state penitentiary.



The prison opened in 1901 and was an active penitentiary until it closed in 1981. When it was first opened the prison consisted of only 104 cells (Cell Block A), no electricity or running water, and very inadequate heating. Remember, it gets down to a chilly forty below in these parts in the winter!



Throughout the prison’s operation, approximately 13,500 people were incarcerated, including eleven women. Overcrowding was an almost constant concern, and the first of several additions to the penitentiary was completed in 1904, adding 32 cells to the west end of the original cell block (Cell Block A). Women were only housed in the prison until 1909, when the last woman was transferred to Colorado, and for the rest of the Prison’s operation, it would house only the lawless men of Wyoming. The addition of the second cell block (Cell Block B) in 1950 temporarily relieved the overcrowding. It also included solitary confinement cells, a much more efficient heating system, and hot running water, which wouldn’t be installed in the original cell block for another twenty-eight years. A maximum-security addition (Cell Block C) was completed in 1966, but the addition only included thirty-six cells and was reserved for serious discipline cases.

(Greg, in solitary...or at least his hand!)




(No Loafing at the Commissary door!!)

The prison was equipped with several different means of disciplining inmates throughout its operation, including a dungeon, a couple of variations of solitary confinement and a “punishment pole” to which men were handcuffed, and whipped with rubber hoses; this method was practiced legally until 1930.

(Death Row)

The prison used several different execution methods throughout it's operation. The first two executions were carried out using the “travelling" Julien Gallows, which required the inmate to "kick his own bucket" to activate the floor drop mechanism. This was used to hang Tom Horn in Cheyenne in 1903.

In 1916, the penitentiary completed the addition of a “death house” which consisted of eight cells to house inmates on death row, and a unique indoor version of the Julien Gallows.

(See that five men really died is this thing, I thought better of asking Greg to have a seat!)

The building also housed the gas chamber when it was chosen to replace hanging as Wyoming’s execution method of choice in 1936. Ultimately, 14 death sentences were carried out; nine men were hanged, and five were executed in the gas chamber using hydrocyanic acid gas.


The prison is an eerie reminder that a life of crime is a bad idea, and that today's penile system is a far cry from frontier justice of the past!