The jail was what we came for! The entrance to the jail was an addition. I am not sure how one would have accessed this part of the jail previously. Perhaps the door to the main jail was the outside door. Nevertheless, inside was a very rotten addition to the jail. It was mostly cinder block so it was probably added in the 1960's. Just a guess. The rest of the jail was nothing more than amazing. There was a cinder wall in the middle, so it had been split at some point. I believe this was to have a men's/women's section. When they did this they had to modify the stairs on one side, it was very narrow. So narrow, it was difficult to climb up.
Enter
This first section is the added on area. It was in much worse shape than the rest of the jail. It was also much smaller.
There was a large steel door with a steel barred door behind it.
Inside was breathtaking and was very cold. Maybe it was breathtaking because it was so cold. It was T-shirt weather outside, but you could see your breath in here. It was very ominous. There were two windows to the entire place. There was also a skylight, but it was not directly over the cell areas. In other words, there was pretty much only poor lighting for inmates.
I will do my best to describe the layout. There was one hallway that went the length of the facility. In this hallway were two cell blocks off of it. Each cell block had two levels. There were a total of 3 cells on each floor block. I did my best to photograph all of them.
It should be noted that there is graffiti everywhere. You can tell some of it is old, but a lot of it was probably created by the boys who used to live in the group home or people who used areas for storage.
These levers opened the clamps on the individual cells.
The cell block.
This must have been what it was like to have been locked inside.
Looking to the upper level
Showing the block from the inside
One last look at the area.
These are shot in the hallway area. Again, it had a cinder wall between the two areas, but it is one hall. One the right is the two lower blocks and the two staircases leading up separated by the wall. On the left was the door that leads to the main floor of the house. It is the area blocked by the bookshelf.
To the back right is the other block.
The other side cell blocks. These were much cleaner.
Entrance to block
Inside
Looking up to the upper level.
Natural Light
Looking out of the block
Now, it is time to go upstairs. We went up the stairs on the most recent cell block first. You will notice another angle of the "windows".
That pole was the heater.
Not much room left after the bed.
Looking to freedom
Not much light came in from these windows.
Lever door
Levers are gone
Back down stairs to get to the other side
Now to the other side, which was just above the first cell block we visited.
