Known as the Cowboy Warden, larger-than-life Roy Best served as warden of the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City for nearly a quarter century.
Appointed in 1932, Best employed brutal discipline, including a flogging bench called the "Old Gray Mare." His methods led to legal trouble. Yet he exhibited a progressive streak emphasizing rehabilitation, including ranches, workshops and gardens, and establishing a separate women's prison.
Capitalizing on his popularity, Best ran for Colorado governor in 1944 as a Democrat, losing in a close vote.
Best, accompanied on prison grounds by a pair of growling guard dogs, played himself in the 1948 film noir movie about a prison escape called Canon City. The semi-documentary was filmed at the penitentiary.
He died of a heart attack in 1954. His obituary in the Steamboat Pilot said: "He was an efficient operator of an institution that was difficult to handle.”
[Photos: History Colorado, Wikipedia]
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