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United States · WA · Walla Walla
Washington State Penitentiary
Maximum SecurityMaximummaleOvercrowded (104%)LowHigh
Verified
Fresh · 1mo 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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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.
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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 Young1911 · criminalHenri Theodore Young (born June 20, 1911 â 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 Ridgway1949 · serial killerGary 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
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
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- ASPC - EymanFlorenceMaximumMaximum Security105% occupancy
- Ionia Correctional FacilityIoniaMaximumMaximum Security65% occupancy
- ASPC - FlorenceFlorenceMaximumMaximum Security78% occupancy
- Sussex I State PrisonWaverlyMaximumMaximum Security87% occupancy
- Wisconsin Secure Program FacilityBoscobelMaximumMaximum Security94% occupancy
- Wallens Ridge State PrisonBig Stone GapMaximumMaximum Security89% occupancy
Compared to other facilities in United States
7436 peersOccupancythis: 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
- Washington DOC — Prisons
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries — US Department of Homeland Security â HIFLD Open Data
- Washington DOC — Prisons — Washington State Department of Corrections
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap Contributors
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q7972269)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
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 July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/washington-state-penitentiary
Chicago
"Washington State Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 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 = {2026-07-21}
}