Photos: Prison Valley

The Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City, one of 11 prisons in the area.

There are no guard rails on the narrow three-mile Skyline Drive, built by prison inmates a century ago. It rises 800 feet above Cañon City.

Fremont County Sheriff James Beicker visits the cemetery at Woodpecker Hill, where unclaimed bodies from local prisons are buried.

Razor wire tops a prison fence.

At the Colorado Territorial Prison Museum gift shop, visitors can buy socks, shirts, hats and aprons made by inmates.

Prayer for Prisoners uses handwritten letters and prayer request forms to contact inmates. The group works to bring religion to inmates.

For sale in the prison store is an inmate’s custom-built chopper, nicknamed “Old Max.” Its suggested retail price: $43,000.

Jan McLaughlin is the director of Cañon City-based Prayer for Prisoners. Her ministry involves Christians from all over the country to become pen pals to prisoners.

Helina Dabrowska, owner of the Riviera Motel in Florence, Colo., is reflected in a window. Her motel provides rooms and counsel for relatives of local prison inmates.

Ginny Hadley, 75, has lived in Cañon City her entire life. She says she feels safe in the community despite its proximity to 11 state and federal prisons.

A toy horse sits atop a marker on an unnamed Colorado state prisoner’s gravesite.

Christian Snelson at his restaurant, Good Thyme Cafe, in downtown Cañon City. A former correctional officer, he says the restaurant is now a favorite of local prison guards. “They feel safe. They don’t have to worry about anyone messing with their food,” he said.

Arlynn Miller, with wife Nina and their three adopted children, runs New Horizons, a program that connects families with infants born to women in prison.