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| Location | 2900 S Higley Blvd, Rawlins, Wyoming |
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| Status | In Use |
| Security class | Level IV/Level V Maximum Security |
| Capacity | 750 inmates |
| Opened | Frontier Prison: 1901 North Facility: 1980 Current Facility: 2001 |
| Closed | Frontier Prison: 1980 North Facility: 2001 |
| Managed by | Wyoming Department of Corrections |
| Director | Neicole Molden, Warden |
TheWyoming State Penitentiary is an American historic and currentprison inRawlins,Carbon County, Wyoming, which has operated from 1901. It moved within Rawlins to a new location in 1981. In 2018, it is aWyoming Department of Corrections state maximum-security prison for men.[1]
Wyoming State Penitentiary is also the location of Wyoming's death row for men andexecution chamber, which is located in the prison's parole board meeting room. No death sentences have been carried out in Wyoming since the 1992 execution of convicted murdererMark Hopkinson, and, in 2018, there were no inmates on death row.
The penitentiary opened in Rawlins in 1901.
Wyoming State Penitentiary District | |
 The 1901 "Wyoming Frontier Prison" at 500 W. Walnut Street | |
| Location | 6th and Walnut Sts.,Rawlins, Wyoming |
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| Area | 30 acres (12 ha) |
| Built | 1894 (1894) |
| Architectural style | Mission/spanish Revival, Romanesque |
| NRHP reference No. | 83003360[2] |
| Added to NRHP | May 26, 1983 |
Wyoming State Penitentiary District, at 6th and Walnut Streets in Rawlins, Wyoming, is ahistoric district that was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1983. The listing included 14contributing buildings.[2]
The listing included the original Administration Building, which is a large stone structure designed by Salt Lake City architectWalter E. Ware and built in stages during the 1890s. The design is generallyRomanesque in style, including in its type of stonework and features such as a semicircular arch,vermiculated stone sills, short columns with foliatedcapitals, and cone-shaped roofs on its tower.[3]
It was completed in 1901. The 1901 building is now a museum called theWyoming Frontier Prison.[4] Visitors can go on guided tours through the old prison. There are exhibits about the old and current prisons and the Wyoming Peace Officers' Museum.
In the summer of 1911, theWyoming State Penitentiary All Stars baseball team played, made up of 12 inmates.[5]
The Ware-designed prison operated for 80 years. ConvictHenry Ruhl was executed there in 1945, the only person executed by the U.S. Federal Government in Wyoming. This facility closed as a prison in 1981 when replaced by the current location.
Its current complex which opened in 1980 at first housed about 500 medium-security prisoners. The original portion of the complex, now called the North Facility, closed in 2001 as the newer South Facility opened. The South Facility boasts the third generation prison layout of 'pods.' A driving factor behind this was the faults with the star, or block, layout of the North Facility. Narrow halls and blind, sharp corners caused dangers to staff. Security issues of the old North Facility came to light when Corporal Wayne Martinez was killed by three inmates. The three inmates gained access to the control center Corporal Martinez was in, beating him with a fire extinguisher and stabbing him over thirty times. Two inmates involved in the attack were given life without the possibility of parole, while the third was sentenced to death. In memory of Corporal Martinez, the Wayne Martinez Training Center was given his name. The North Facility remains standing, but abandoned.[1]
Prior to 1991 theWyoming Board of Charities and Reform operated the prison. After, theWyoming Department of Corrections operated it.
Wyoming's first state prison, built in 1872 nearLaramie, Wyoming and decommissioned in 1901, is now theWyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site. It operated as a federal penitentiary from 1872 to 1890, and as a state prison from 1890 to 1901.
41°45′56″N107°12′56″W / 41.76566°N 107.21562°W /41.76566; -107.21562
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