Museum of Colorado Prisons — Attraction in Cañon City

Plan to read a lot of tiny print about prison systems. This was the womans prisons but most if the info was about the men's prisons. It has about 12 cells with old displays and many photo copies newspapers articles about the prison system. I was often interested in an item in a display but I could not find any other articles explaining what it was. If you want to read everything you can while you are here I dont think you could finish in a day. I would expect this would cause any child below 12 or 14 to become bored quickly causing you to rush through. I would like to know what they do with the money made here. I visited over 10 years ago and I dont know what has been updated. Some items are made by prisoners, do they get part of the profits? I let with more questions than I had before entering. For example, I saw the cell size before the 1929 riots. I saw the size of the womans cells pre 1980s but I have no clue how life is there today. Maybe a tour of a section of "big max" would help or an example of today's max security. Since this was last the womans prison I would like to hear more about the programs that they had for them back in the day. Lastly I was disappointed to see the photo of warden Best while he was beating someone on the "ole mare" the caption explained that the prisoners were corrected using a leather strap several feet long. I looked at the picture and it did not look like a strap was being used, it looked more like a hammer. Then while waiting for a ride on Royal Gorge train I noticed the same picture in the gift shop. The caption there explained that the warden was using a leather paddle soaked in salt water to discipline the prisoners. Wow . All that I I didnt have to spend close to 50 bucks for the 3 of us. I hope that this will be updated someday soon and converted into an area that will actually teach the young and old alike. Till then save your money...

Prior to visiting this museum a local advised to watch the 1949 "Canon City" movie through youtube to get a context of what this museum is all about. Although this museum is actually the Woman's side of the prison (Man's side is still in use), you still get the full gest of how it's built.

To start, we had to park in the back since the F-450 was too big to fit in the small front parking lot.

We toured the outside of the walls for about 30 minutes reviewing the buildings and gas chamber. There wasn't any cost associated with that. I guess this is to "wet your whistle" before entering the main museum and gift shop.

Walking up the 20 steep steps to get into the door we were greeting by an enthusiastic receptionist that gave us a quick overview of the facilities. Then we went on a self-paced tour.

There was approx 30 cells, each outfitted with memorabilia and history of events, weapons used by inmates, riot control items, uniforms, movie garb, medical items, Warden Best saddles, and stories about how, when and where the history took place, gang member photos, chow hall, fire department equipment, and all the other items you'd expect to house all the inmates.

THEN, there was the lower deck that portrayed inmate created items, infirmary, scale models replica of the gas chamber and how it was built and how rehabilitation for prisoners was their primary goals.

As you exited the lower deck you can visit the gift shop. Some pretty neat stuff in there.

This should be a bucket list item and we highly recommend you spend the 10 bucks to get in. We spent about an...

Visited with my 25 y.o. niece while she was visiting. The IDEA of this museum is great/fascinating. There is so much history, so many interesting things and stories (history, artifacts, warden and inmate profiles, artwork, etc.) contained within these walls that couldn’t be experienced/known any other way. We were pleased to have gone. However, even though we paid for a “guided tour,” were told when we arrived that there was none (no explanation given). Instead, we were given a guidebook with info that coincided with each cell/display and did our own, self-guided tour. And that was fine, except that there is just SO much written information posted (and lots of small print) that we eventually became overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it. And yes, that is sometimes the nature of museums, but this felt like much more written info than most museums. I suppose if someone were especially fascinated by all of the details provided, reading all of the info provided might work. But I cannot imagine the average visitor taking the time that would be required to take in all of the info they provide. And maybe that’s OK. But I have to wonder if others have left feeling the same or worse. I strongly urge the state (or whoever maintains this museum) to find a way to invest in some sort of audio option (like other museums have). It would make it much more palatable (and possibly...