Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins, Wyoming
"While outlaws roamed the windswept high plains, canyons and mountains of post-Civil War Wyoming, the territorial legislature was planning a state-of-the-art penitentiary at Rawlins in anticipation
of statehood. This new Wyoming State Penitentiary, which would serve from 1901 until 1981, would send a strong message to these free-wheeling desperados... Wyoming would NO LONGER be a haven for the
lawless.
"Some of the West's most notorious outlaws, including Butch Cassidy (this was the only prison to incarcerate him in North America), spent part of their lives in this place that was 'dedicated to evil doers of all classes and kinds.'
"The Old Pen, as the Wyoming Frontier Prison is affectionately called today, is 'haunted by history' around every corner. Tales of great train robbers, wily escapes and of women driven to crimes of passion
are told on the regularly scheduled guided trips offered daily from April through October. Group tours and off-season tours are also available.
"Visitors may browse through history in the prison museum where historical information sits side-by-side with confiscated inmate-made weapons and an exhibit of the movie, 'Prison', filmed on location at the Old Pen. The Old Pen Gift Shop offers souvenirs and western gifts. The proceeds from the tours and gift shop are returned to the Old Pen for historical and operational use."
Interestingly enough, many women were housed in the Old Pen. After the tour, I purchased a book - Petticoat Prisoners of Old Wyoming - from their better-than-average gift shop. It's one thing to see a hundred year-old photo and know that this woman was incarcerated here, it's quite another (and much more interesting) to read about her life and what crime(s) she committed which would bring her to the Old Pen. And what was it like back then - a handful of women being housed with a couple hundred men?
Click HERE to read some of the womens' stories.
I got there before they even opened for the day at 8:30am so I wandered around a bit outside. The prison is in excellent condition for its age. I've seen prisons in Columbus and Mansfield, Ohio which were crumbling relics but thankfully someone had the foresight to preserve this great building. By the time the first tour started, a group of about five of us were gathered and our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and kept the tour moving along. The highlight, of course, is the hanging room and the gas chamber. Some people were getting photographed sitting inside the gas chamber, but since Timothy McVeigh had recently been executed I felt that posing in such a fashion would just be too gruesome for me.
All in all a great attraction and at the unbelievable admission price of $3.50 you'd be a fool not to make a stop in Rawlins at the Wyoming Frontier Prison.
