Doin' Time in a Wyoming Jail

The Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie dates back to the 1800's and has held cattle rustlers, thieves, murderers and other criminals.  The most famous person who did time there was Butch Cassidy, who spent two years at the prison.  It wasn't just men who were imprisoned there - a few women were confined there as well.  There was even a husband and wife imprisoned there at the same time, and for the five years they were both there, they never saw each other once.  Eventually, the wife was released and her husband was released later.

It's a small prison with a kitchen, infirmary, wash area, new prisoner processing room, regular cells and solitary confinement cells. We took the self-guided tour and listened to a museum employee dressed as a prisoner talk about life in the prison.  Throughout the prison, there are head shots - mugshots actually - of some of the prisoners accompanied by a sign that tells the prisoner's story.  The stories were very interesting and made the prison tour more personal.

From some of the prison cells, inmates could look through the windows and see the mountains in the distance.  The guide said it was an enticement to try to escape, and many inmates did.  I can't blame them - the view throughout Laramie is beautiful.

After touring the prison, we walked around the grounds and visited the church and the warden's house.  On the way out, Ruth spotted some homemade caramels in the gift shop that were three for $1.00, a bargain compared to the $1.49 caramels at the Alpine Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park.  We left with six of them.

The museum was well worth the visit, and caramels in hand, we got back in the motorhome and continued heading west.

Inside the two-story prison

Butch Cassidy

Prison bath tubs

Solitary confinement cell

Infirmary