{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}{{short description|Prison facility operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections}} {{Infobox Prison | prison_name = Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence | image = | location = Florence, Arizona | coordinates = {{coord|33.027|N|111.370|W|type:landmark_region:US-AZ|display=inline,title}} | status = Closed | pushpin_map = USA Arizona | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Arizona | classification = mixed | capacity = Closed except for units transferred under other ASPC complexes (Gov Doug Ducey ordered shut down due to massive costs to operate in 2020) | opened = 1908 | closed = 2022 | managed_by = Arizona Department of Corrections | director = }}
'''Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence''' also known as '''Florence State Prison''' (FSP) is a facility operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections (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. The Florence complex used to include a unit in Picacho in unincorporated Pinal County however, the Picacho Unit was closed and razed in early 2013. The Globe Unit in Globe is now part of ASPC-Phoenix.<ref>"[http://www.azcorrections.gov/prisons/Jeff_Florence.aspx Arizona State Prison Complex–Florence]." Arizona Department of Corrections. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.</ref>
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.<ref>"[http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/datasearch/dr_faq.asp Death Row Information and Frequently Asked Questions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527105027/http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/datasearch/dr_faq.asp |date=2010-05-27 }}." Arizona Department of Corrections. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.</ref> 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.<ref>Bui, Lynh. "[http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/12/20080712prisonparty0712.html Marking 100 years of incarceration]." ''The Arizona Republic''. July 12, 2008. Retrieved on September 20, 2010.</ref>
FSP had an inmate capacity of 3,946 in 6 housing units, housed at level 2, 3 and 5 security levels.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} 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.
{| border="0" cellpadding="2" !ASPC Unit !Custody Level |- |Central Unit |5 |- |East Unit |3 |- |North Unit |2 |- |South Unit (now part of ASPC-Eyman) |2 |- |CB–Kasson |5 |- |Globe |2 |- |Tempe St. Lukes |2–5 |- |}
==Notable people== ===Staff=== *Frank Eyman (1898–1984), warden; retired in 1974<ref>Fraternal Order of Police Phoenix Lodge 2 [http://lodge2.azfop.com/about-us/ Arizona Fraternal Order of Police] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227061622/http://lodge2.azfop.com/about-us/ |date=2018-02-27 }}</ref><ref name="Prisons">{{cite web | url=http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/history/History_Prison_article.aspx | title=Prisons | publisher=Arizona Department of Corrections | work=Directions | date=June 1993 | accessdate=September 15, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012053700/http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/history/History_Prison_article.aspx | archive-date=October 12, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> ===Inmates===
====Former==== *Dale Hausner (1973–2013), serial killer; committed suicide by overdose<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.azfamily.com/story/22637301/serial-killers-autopsy-no-signs-of-physical-truma/ | title=Arizona's Family | Phoenix News }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-arizona-serialshooter-idUSBRE96B02Y20130712?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&dlvrit=992637 | title=Arizona serial killer died of anti-depressant overdose: Medical examiner | newspaper=Reuters | date=12 July 2013 }}</ref> *Cris Kirkwood (born 1960), bassist of ''Meat Puppets''; served 21 months for assault<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5593127|title=Cris Kirkwood sentenced to prison - Entertainment - Music - TODAYshow.com|date=November 16, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116143049/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/5593127 |archive-date=2010-11-16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/09/02/extreme_turnaround/ | title=Extreme turnaround - the Boston Globe }}</ref> *Charles Schmid (1942–1975), serial killer; escaped briefly in 1972; was murdered in FSP<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/13/archives/-pied-piper-of-tucson-kidnaps-4-then-frees-them-in-prison-break.html | title='Pied Piper of Tucson' Kidnaps 4, then Frees Them in Prison Break | work=The New York Times | date=13 November 1972 }}</ref><ref>Sifakis, Carl. (1982). ''The Encyclopedia Of American Crime''. Facts On File, Inc. pp. 641–642. {{ISBN|0-87196-620-4}}.</ref><ref name="shelton">{{cite book |title=Crossing The Yard|last=Shelton |first=Richard |authorlink=Richard Shelton (writer) |year=2007 |publisher=University of Arizona Press|isbn=978-0-8165-2594-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/crossingyard00rich|url-access=registration|quote=crossing the yard.}}</ref>{{rp|47}} *Placido Silvas (birth and death unknown), one of two perpetrators of the Ruby Murders; escaped in 1928 and never found<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-ruby/ | title=Mining and Murder in Ruby, Arizona – Legends of America }}</ref> *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<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-arizona-phoenix-florence-one-b2061165.html | title=Arizona on track, for now, for 1st execution since 2014 | website=Independent.co.uk | date=19 April 2022 }}</ref> *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<ref>{{cite web | url=http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1997/01/23/98025-greenawalt-executed-for-murders/ | title=Greenawalt executed for murders - Tucson Citizen Morgue, Part 2 (1993-2009) }}</ref> *Douglas Gretzler (1951–1998), serial killer; executed by lethal injection<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2014/07/23/arizona-inmates-executed-since-2000/13057663/ | title=Arizona inmates executed since 1992 }}</ref> *Donald Harding (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; executed by lethal injection *Walter and Karl-Heinz LaGrand (1962 and 1963–both 1999), brothers and convicted murderers<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/03/03/1999-walter-lagrand/|title=ExecutedToday.com » 1999: Walter LaGrand, a German gassed in America}}</ref> *Manuel Martinez (c.1895–1923), one of two perpetrators of the Ruby Murders; executed by hanging<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ringbrothershistory.com/Columns/column%2022.htm|title=Column No}}</ref> *Leroy Dean McGill (1963–2026), murderer and arsonist; executed by lethal injection.<ref name="mcgill">{{cite news |title=Arizona puts Leroy McGill to death in state’s 1st execution of 2026 |url=https://ktar.com/arizona-news/execution-leroy-mcgill-death-row/5867944/ |access-date=20 May 2026 |work=KTAR-FM |date=20 May 2026}}</ref> *Joseph R. Wood (1958–2014), double murderer; died from a botched execution by lethal injection<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/07/botched-lethal-injection-of-joseph-wood-takes-two-hours.html | title=Arizona Man Gasps and Snorts During Lethal Injection Execution That Took Nearly Two Hours | journal=Slate | date=23 July 2014 | last1=Hannon | first1=Elliot }}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|Arizona}} * Thomas H. Rynning * List of U.S. state prisons * List of Arizona state prisons
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.azcorrections.gov/prisons/Jeff_Florence.aspx Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence] – Arizona Department of Corrections
{{State prisons in Arizona}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arizona State Prison Complex - Florence}} Florence Category:Buildings and structures in Pinal County, Arizona Category:Capital punishment in Arizona Category:Execution sites in the United States Category:Florence, Arizona Category:1908 establishments in Arizona Territory