[1] During the 1880s, Washington's territorial legislature sought to build a state prison to satisfy a requirement for eventual statehood.

Its inmates performed penal labor and manufactured goods while being denied visitation rights and access to clergy.

[5] There have been several more escapes since, including a seized supply train in 1891, a riot that left nine dead in 1934,[6] 10 who tunneled under the wall in 1955,[7] and John Allen Lamb, who sawed his way out in 1997.

[14] Over a one-year period, starting in March 2002, more than one hundred inmates and staff at the Washington State Penitentiary were infected with Campylobacter jejuni.

The source of this outbreak is not known, but contamination via pigeon feces, as well as unsafe food handling procedures, were examined.

[15][16][clarification needed] In June 2021, dozens of inmates were subjected to extreme heat when the air conditioning stopped working in the solitary confinement unit.