While outlaws roamed the windswept high plains, canyons and mountains of post-Civil War Wyoming, the territorial legislature was planning a state-of-the-art penitentiary at Rawlins in anticipation of statehood. This new Wyoming State Penitentiary, which would serve from 1901 until 1981, would send a strong message to these free-wheeling desperados… Wyoming would no longer be a haven for the lawless!

The Old Pen, as the Wyoming Frontier Prison is affectionately called today, is “haunted by history” around every corner. Tales of great train robbers, wily escapes and of women driven to crimes of passion are told on the regularly scheduled guided tours offered daily from April thru October. Group tours and off-season tours are also avail- able.

Stand inside the tiny dark cells, sit in the gas chamber, fill your senses with the history of the wild west. Observe artwork with an ominous message, walk within the great stone walls. Visitors to the prison will see the place where 9 prisoners were hanged and 5 prisoners were executed by lethal gas. Be part of an unpleasant but necessary chapter in mankind’s history of Wyoming.

Visitors may browse thru history in the prison museum where historical information sits side-by-side with confiscated inmate-made weapons and an exhibit of the movie, “Prison”, filmed on location at the Old Pen. The Old Pen Gift Shop offers souvenirs and western gifts as well as inmate-made crafts of leather, horsehair items and jewelry. The proceeds from the tours and gift shop are returned to the Old Pen for historical and operational use.

Portions excerpted from prison brochure.
Photo credit: Old Pen Joint Powers Board