Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence

Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence also known as Florence State Prison (FSP) is a former facility operated by the

The Central Unit of ASPC–Florence housed Arizona's one of two male death row cell blocks (the other at Eyman where they were both consolidated when ASPC-Florence closed down) and the State of Arizona execution chamber.^[2] FSP is the judicial site in Arizona for state executions since 1910. The death house known on the Unit as Housing Unit 9 is located beside Housing Unit 8. Lethal injection and the gas chamber are the sole methods of execution.

In 1908 inmates finished building and opened the Arizona Prison at Florence. This new prison was to replace the territorial prison in Yuma. The convicts lived in tents while constructing the prison. The new prison featured a death chamber. The chamber was scaffolding above the death row cells that had a trap door for hanging inmates which opened to a room below. In 1934, hanging was replaced with the gas chamber following a botched hanging that took place in 1930. Convicts from Florence were a cheap source of labor and the state used them to build roads through the mountains between Bisbee and Tombstone in 1913. Convicts also built a bridge over the San Pedro River and improved the Douglas Highway. There is a concrete monument there commemorating the completion of the road.

The prison was designed in a mission-revival style architecture.^[3]

FSP had an inmate capacity of 3,946 in 6 housing units, housed at level 2, 3 and 5 security levels.^{[citation needed]} The ADC uses a score classification system to assess inmates appropriate custody and security level placement. The scores range from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest risk or need.

Central Unit was recently changed from a split 3/5 level to a sole maximum security unit.

Notable People

Staff

• Frank Eyman (1898–1984), warden; retired in 1974^[4][5]

Inmates

Current

• Trent Benson (born 1971), murderer and possible serial killer
• Morton Berger (born 1951), teacher who collected child porn^[6]
• Gary Brodie, father of Mike Brodie
• Samuel Dieteman (born 1975), serial killer
• Richard Djerf (born 1969), mass murderer
• Johnathan Doody and Allesandro Garcia, perpetrators of the Waddell Buddhist temple shooting
• Mark Goudeau (born 1964), serial killer
• Cory Morris (born 1978), serial killer
• Robert Lee Walden (born 1966), murderer and possible serial killer

Former

• Dale Hausner (1973–2013), serial killer; committed suicide by overdose^[7][8]
• Cris Kirkwood (born 1960), bassist of Meat Puppets; served 21 months for assault^[9][10]
• Charles Schmid (1942–1975), serial killer; escaped briefly in 1972; was murdered in FSP^{[11][12][13]: 47}
• Placido Silvas (birth and death unknown), one of two perpetrators of the Ruby Murders; escaped in 1928 and never found^[14]
• Willie Steelman (1945–1986), Gretzler's accomplice; died of liver cirrhosis
• Gary Tison (1935–1978), gang leader and murderer; escaped in 1975

Executed

• Clarence Dixon (1955–2022), murderer; executed by lethal injection^[15]
• Eva Dugan (1878–1930), murderer; was decapitated during an attempted hanging
• Randy Greenawalt (1949–1997), serial killer and mass murderer who helped Tison escape; executed by lethal injection^[16]
• Douglas Gretzler (1951–1998), serial killer; executed by lethal injection^[17]
• Donald Harding (1949–1992), serial/spree killer; executed by gas chamber
• Walter and Karl-Heinz LaGrand (1962 and 1963–both 1999), brothers and convicted murderers^[18]
• Manuel Martinez (c.1895–1923), one of two perpetrators of the Ruby Murders; executed by hanging^[19]
• Joseph R. Wood (1958–2014), double murderer; died from a botched execution by lethal injection^[20]

See also

• Thomas H. Rynning
• List of U.S. state prisons
• List of Arizona state prisons

References