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United States · WA · Walla Walla

Washington State Penitentiary

Maximum SecurityMaximummaleOvercrowded (104%)LowHigh
Verified
Aging · 4mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

For families

How to send mail, money, and visit Washington State Penitentiary

Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Open toolkit
Photograph of Washington State Penitentiary
Photo by Philip Cohen via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • Penitentiary entrance.jpg

    Photo by Philip Cohen via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

  • Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, September 1908 (WASTATE 1474).jpeg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Washington State Penitentiary is a state prison located in Walla Walla County, Washington. Rated capacity: 2,439. Reported population: 2,593. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.

Capacity

2,500

Current population

2,593

Occupancy

104%

Year opened

1886

Operational

Figures from official sources · verified 16 Jun 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Population held

male

Opened

1886

Region

WA

Security level

Maximum

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Notable inmates

  • Henri Young
    Henri Young
    1911 · criminal

    Henri Theodore Young (born June 20, 1911 – disappeared 1972) was an American convicted bank robber and murderer who, while serving one of a series of prison terms, attempted to escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary with four other inmates in 1939.

  • Gary Ridgway
    Gary Ridgway
    1949 · serial killer

    Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), known as the Green River Killer or the Green River Strangler, is an American serial killer who was convicted of murdering forty-nine women between 1982 and 1998 in the northwestern United States.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

1313 N 13Th Ave, Walla Walla 99362

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

5/100
Low concern5/100
Overcrowding
5/30
Oversight reports
0/30
Structural flags
0/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

What the score is responding to:

  • · Operating at 104% of design capacity

This facility scores 5. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 3 points above national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Occupancythis: 104% · peers avg: 93% (+12%)
Capacity (beds)this: 2500 · peers avg: 547 (+357%)

Data completeness

74%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Washington State Penitentiary. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/washington-state-penitentiary
Chicago
"Washington State Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/washington-state-penitentiary.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-washington-state-penitentia,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Washington State Penitentiary},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/washington-state-penitentiary},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}