Roy Best

Roy Phelix Best was an American prison warden, film actor, and political candidate for Governor of Colorado. He is known for his wardenship of the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, an infamous prison in Cañon City, Colorado, and for playing himself in Canon City, a 1948 film noir crime film.

Early life Roy Phelix Best was born on March 2, 1900, in Rocky Ford, Colorado, Adams later appointed Roy as warden of the same facility, making them the first father and son appointed warden by the same governor. This made Best the youngest warden in the history of the state and federal prison systems at that time. A strict disciplinarian, Best used painful and degrading punishments inside and outside prison walls.

Homosexual prisoners were specifically punished. Early in Best's tenure, male prisoners caught engaging in homosexual activity "were forced to wear dresses and push a wheelbarrow filled with rocks as their punishment." A 1935 photograph documents the practice. thumb In 1935, prisoners caught engaging in homosexual activity were forced to wear dresses and push rocks.

However, Best also pioneered modern rehabilitative phenological practices. "Many were led to believe that [Best] was unduly harsh and inhumane," wrote The Steamboat Pilot upon his death, "ut for those who knew him...he was an efficient operator of an institution that was difficult to handle." Best organized a search party, and successfully captured or killed all the escapees, "with most of the survivors suffering some degree of frostbite." Throughout the film, Best can be seen inspecting the prison, explaining his duties, and coordinating the search efforts—all while wearing his Stetson, with his two Dobermans, Chris and Ike, by his side. The New York Times effusively praised Best's acting skills, writing that his performance evoked "a naturalness few actors could stimulate."