It is the site of Washington State's Death Row and where executions are carried out. Methods for execution currently include lethal injection, and the option of hanging.

It is currently located at 1313 N. 13th Avenue and is commonly known as "the Walls" currently among inmates of the Washington Department of Corrections. The penitentiary is sometimes known as Concrete Mama, from a reference to a book with the same title and written by Ethan Hoffman and John McCoy.

The Washington State Penitentiary was also made famous by the song "Walla Walla" by The Offspring.

Gary Ridgway, convicted for the Green River killings around the Seattle/Tacoma area, and Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianchi, are among the prisoners currently incarcerated at Walla Walla.

Over a one year period, starting in March of 2002, more than one hundred inmates and staff at the Washington State Penitentiary were infected with Campylobacter jejuni. During this period, five clusters of the infection were identified, and genetic testing indicated that all of the bacteria were indistinguishable from each other. The source of this outbreak is not known, but contamination via pigeon feces, as well as unsafe food handling procedures, were examined.

Washington State Penitentiary is not to be confused with Washington State Prison, located in Davisboro in Washington County in the state of Georgia.

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