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

Arizona Department of Corrections The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry (ADCRR), commonly and formerly referred to as simply the Arizona Department of Corrections, is the statutory law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates in 13 ...

(ADC). The facility stopped housing inmates long-term, and currently only houses death row inmates in their final days before the execution at the facility. The main FSP prison was located in

Florence, Arizona Florence ( O'odham: S-auppag) is a town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. Florence, which is the county seat of Pinal County, is one of the oldest towns in that county and includes a National Historic District with over 25 buildings li ...

. The Florence complex used to include a unit in Picacho in unincorporated

Pinal County Pinal County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, the population of the county was 425,264, making it Arizona's third-most populous county. The county seat is Florence. The county was est ...

however, the Picacho Unit was closed and razed in early 2013. The Globe Unit in

Globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

is now part of ASPC-Phoenix. The Central Unit of ASPC–Florence housed Arizona's one of two male

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...

cell blocks (the other at Eyman where they were both consolidated when ASPC-Florence closed down) and the State of Arizona

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a prison#Security levels, maximum-security prison, although not always at the same p ...

. 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 Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

and the

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...

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 A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...

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. FSP had an inmate capacity of 3,946 in 6 housing units, housed at level 2, 3 and 5 security levels. 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

Inmates

Former

* Dale Hausner (1973–2013), serial killer; committed suicide by overdose * Cris Kirkwood (born 1960), bassist of ''

Meat Puppets Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), his brother Cris Kirkwood (bass guitar/vocals), and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The Kirkwood brothe ...

''; served 21 months for assault *

Charles Schmid Charles Howard Schmid Jr. (July 8, 1942 – March 30, 1975), also known as the Pied Piper of Tucson, was an American serial killer whose crimes were detailed by journalist Don Moser in an article featured in the March 4, 1966, issue of Life (magaz ...

(1942–1975), serial killer; escaped briefly in 1972; was murdered in FSP *Placido Silvas (birth and death unknown), one of two perpetrators of the Ruby Murders; escaped in 1928 and never found *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 * 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 *

Douglas Gretzler Douglas Edward Gretzler (May 21, 1951 – June 3, 1998) was an American serial killer who, together with accomplice Willie Steelman, committed seventeen murders in the states of Arizona and California in late 1973. All the victims were shot, str ...

(1951–1998), serial killer; executed by lethal injection *

Donald Harding Donald Eugene Harding (March 1, 1949 – April 6, 1992) was an American serial robber, spree killer, and possible serial killer who committed at least seven murders between December 1979 and January 1980 throughout California, Arizona, Texas, and ...

(1949–1992), serial/spree killer; executed by gas chamber *Robert Glen Jones Jr. (1969–2013), one of the two perpetrators of the

1996 Tucson murders Between May 30, 1996, and June 13, 1996, both Scott Douglas Nordstrom (born September 28, 1967) and Robert Glen Jones Jr. (December 25, 1969 – October 23, 2013) committed a series of robbery-murders in Tucson, Arizona. On May 30, 1996, both Nor ...

; executed by lethal injection * Walter and Karl-Heinz LaGrand (1962 and 1963–both 1999), brothers and convicted murderers *Manuel Martinez (c.1895–1923), one of two perpetrators of the Ruby Murders; executed by hanging *

Joseph R. Wood Joseph Wood (May 12, 1915 – June 3, 2000) was an American composer and music educator. He was a faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he taught music theory and composition from 1950 until his retirement in 1985. He performe ...

(1958–2014), double murderer; died from a botched execution by lethal injection

References

External links

Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence
–

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arizona State Prison Complex - Florence

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Buildings and structures in Pinal County, Arizona Capital punishment in Arizona Execution sites in the United States Florence, Arizona 1908 establishments in Arizona Territory