Previous Site of the Utah State Penitentiary

Previous Site of the Utah State Penitentiary. Welcome to the "The Pen". , From January of 1855 until 1951, Sugar House Park was home to the Utah State Penitentiary. Brigham Young chose the prison site, which was exactly six miles from the city center and the land was free. The original prison was just 16 "cozy cells dug into the ground, with iron bars on top.", A few years later, an adobe wall, 12 feet high and 4 feet thick, was added; it enclosed a log dining room and meeting hall. The warden had his own house. The cells were poorly ventilated and undesirable. A stone wall around the prison and a four-foot 200-inmate cell house was constructed in 1885. In 1896, Utah became a state and took over the prison's operations from the federal government. From 1904-1918, a new cell house composed of steel, brick, concrete, and stone was built. Each cell had running water and electrical lights, and inmates also received movie watching privileges, could take part in sporting events, and were allowed to build their own swimming pool. , With Salt Lake City residential development encroaching on the prison site, Sugar House residents wanted the prison out of their neighborhood. Authorization was given in 1907 for a new prison on 1,009 acres in today's Draper area-22 miles south of Salt Lake City. However, work on that facility was only on a "pay-as-you-go" basis, and so it came about slowly. Women inmates never had adequate prison facilities in Sugar House. In 1938 Utah began sending all female inmates to the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, Colorado. Utah paid for their housing there., By 1941, Stage 1 of the new Draper prison was complete, but work on the prison was halted during World War II because of the shortage of materials. Finally, on March 12, 1951, 575 inmates were moved by bus to "Point of the Mountain." Female inmates did not return from the Colorado prison to Utah until 1957. At the end of Summer 2022, the individuals at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah, moved to the new Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. When the old prison walls were demolished at Sugar House, nine sticks of dynamite barely dented them. Many sections of wall had to be taken down stone by stone., Who was Joe Hill? , Joe Hill (October 7, 1879 - November 19, 1915), was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwritter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World. , He sought justice for poor immigrants working at hazardous job, an issue that resonates today. He was execututed by firing squad at Utah's Sugar House Prison.