Phone +1 307-328-1442 Security class maximum security | Opened 1901 Director Eddie Wilson, Warden | |
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Location 2900 S Higley Blvd,
Rawlins, Wyoming Managed by Wyoming Department of Corrections Address 2900 S Higley Blvd, Rawlins, WY 82301, USA Hours Open today ยท Open 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursSuggest an edit | ||
Wyoming State Penitentiary is a Wyoming Department of Corrections state maximum-security prison for men located in Rawlins, Carbon County, Wyoming.
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The facility first opened in 1980 and housed about 500 medium-security prisoners. That portion of the complex, now called the North Facility, closed in 1988 as the newer South Facility opened. The North Facility remains standing but empty.
Prior to 1991 the Wyoming Board of Charities and Reform operated the prison.
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Previous Wyoming state prisons
Wyoming's first state prison, built in 1872 near Laramie, Wyoming and decommissioned in 1901, is now the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site. That 1872 building was replaced by another facility designed by architect Walter E. Ware and completed in 1901.
The Ware-designed prison operated for 80 years. Convict Henry Ruhl was executed there in 1945, the only person executed by the U.S. Federal Government in Wyoming. It closed as a prison in 1981 when replaced by the current location.
The 1901 building is now a museum called the Wyoming Frontier Prison and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 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.