Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility

{{Short description|Medium security prison in Cañon City, Colorado}}

{{Infobox Prison

| prison_name = Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility

| image =

| location = Cañon City, Colorado

| coordinates =

| status = Open

| classification = Mixed

| capacity = 900

| opened = 1871

| closed =

| managed_by = Colorado Department of Corrections

| director =

}}

File:Deputy Warden's House.JPG

Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility (CTCF), colloquially known simply as "Territorial" and formerly known as the Colorado State Prison, is a medium security prison in Cañon City, Colorado. CTCF is the oldest prison in the Colorado DOC system. It was built in 1871 as a territorial prison and became a state prison in 1876. The Colorado DOC system only has two infirmaries, one of which is located in CTCF. The other is located in the Denver Reception & Diagnostic Center (DRDC).{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

From the 1890s until 1993, the Colorado death row and execution chamber was located at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility,{{Cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Kirk |url=http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_18564471 |title=Colorado moves death-row inmates so they can exercise outdoors |newspaper=Denver Post |date=July 28, 2011 |accessdate=April 19, 2012}}{{Cite news |last=Kirby |first=Jen |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/05/haunting-photos-of-us-death-chambers.html |title=Photos: A Haunting Look at America's Execution Chambers |newspaper=New York |date=May 16, 2014 |accessdate=September 19, 2015}} but the last execution to take place there was in 1967."In 1997, Colorado's first execution in 30 years marked a watershed moment. But did it change the conversation about capital punishment?". The Colorado Sun. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019. In 1993, the Colorado State Penitentiary opened, and death row moved there. As of 2012, the Sterling Correctional Facility housed Colorado's death row prisoners. Capital punishment was abolished in Colorado in 2020; although the law did not apply retroactively, the sentences of the three remaining inmates on death row were commuted to life in prison by governor Jared Polis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorado.gov/governor/news/gov-polis-signs-death-penalty-repeal-bill-commutes-death-row-sentences-life-prison-without|title=Gov. Polis Signs Death Penalty Repeal Bill, Commutes Death Row Sentences to Life in Prison Without Parole | Colorado Governor Jared Polis}}