Cañon City in Fremont County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Between the Bars
Colorado State Penitentiary
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025
1. Between the Bars Marker
In 1868 Cañon City residents began building a penitentiary for the Colorado Territory. The 40-cell prison opened to receive convicts in June 1871. By 1899, the penitentiary housed about 400 inmates.
Before a wall was built around the prison, inmates could leave to work in town but had to return at the end of the day.
Inmate labor helped the community in many ways, such as construction of roads like Skyline Drive and quarrying of stone used to build many structures in town.
In December 1947, the escape of twelve convicts from the Colorado State Penitentiary received national attention and inspired the film Cañon City. The prison warden Roy Best got to play himself in the movie.
Today, Fremont County is home to seven state prisons (including the original Territorial Correctional Facility at the west end of Cañon City) and a large Federal Prison Complex in Florence. Cañon City's state prisons house about 5,230 offenders and employs 2,400.
For more information please visit the Museum of Colorado Prisons at 201 N. 1st Street or call (719) 269-3015.
Photos Courtesy of the Museum of Colorado Prisons & Royal Gorge Regional Museum.
[other photo caption]
this page online
Erected by Cañon City Rotary Club.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment • Law Enforcement. In addition, it is included in the Rotary International series list. A significant historical month for this entry is June 1871.
Location. 38° 26.468′ N, 105° 14.385′ W. Marker is in Cañon City, Colorado, in Fremont County. It is on Main Street just west of North 6th Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 523 Main Street, Canon City CO 81212, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley and in Pikes Peak Region. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comanchería and also the Republic of Texas.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Ward/Graves Hospital Building
2. Marker detail: Territorial Prison; ca. 1870
Also see . . .
1. Colorado State Penitentiary (Wikipedia).
Excerpt: Colorado State Penitentiary is a Level V maximum security prison in the U.S. state of Colorado. The facility is part of the state's East Cañon Complex, together with six other state correctional facilities of various security levels. The oldest of the seven, originally built in 1871 and predating Colorado's statehood, was the original State Penitentiary. This was the site of Colorado's death row, and the 1929 prison riot. After the 1993 construction of the current facility, that prison was re-dedicated as the medium-security Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility. It is located within the city limits of Cañon City.(Submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
2. Canon City (film) (Wikipedia).
3. Marker detail: Former inmate Alferd Packer
ca. 1886
ca. 1886
“The Colorado Cannibal”
Excerpt: Canon City is a 1948 American film noir crime film written and directed by Crane Wilbur. The drama features Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, and Whit Bissell, along with prison warden Roy Best playing himself. The film takes its name from Cañon City, Colorado. This account of a violent prison break is a semi-documentary that opens with a newsreel-type tour of the prison. The film is based on a prison break that occurred at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility at Cañon City, Colorado, on 30 December 1947. Within a week, all escapees were killed or captured. The film was shot almost entirely on location at the site of the Cañon City state penitentiary in March 1948.(Submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
3. Alferd Packer (Colorado Encyclopedia).
Excerpt: Alferd E. Packer (1842–1909), also “Alfred,” was a prospector who became famous after confessing to eating his dead comrades while trapped in the San Juan Mountains in February 1874. With the group starving and disoriented, it appears likely that Packer killed another prospector in self-defense and then began(Submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)gnawing on the corpses of those who had already died. Packer’s story of cannibalism highlights the dangers faced by nearly every nineteenth-century prospector who ventured into the Rocky Mountains, and has become one of the West’s most grisly and enduring legends and murder mysteries.
4. Marker detail: Inmate Laborers; 1880
5. Marker detail: Recapture of Richard Heilman
December 1947
December 1947
6. Marker detail: Warden Roy Best
ca. 1945
ca. 1945
7. Marker detail: Prison Cannery; 1956
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025
8. Between the Bars Marker
Looking southeast across Main Street; North 6th Street crosses in the left background.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 15, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 14, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 126 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
