Best, Roy

Best, Roy

(1900–54) prison warden; birthplace unknown. He was for 20 years the so-called "iron boss" of the Colorado state penitentiary in Canon City (1932–52). There he won a national reputation by instituting an innovative dietary and work regimen that included the liberal use of physical punishment. Acquitted in 1951 and 1952 on charges of embezzlement and flogging prisoners, he died shortly before the end of a 2-year suspension for mismanagement.