Thursday 8 June 2023

Jailhouse Rock

As I said in my last post, for the past two weeks, I've been working in the jailhouse but no Rock!


It's called a jailhouse because it looks like a house. I worked in the far left section, behind the windows with the bars. 

It was quite an experience working there. I ain't afraid of no ghost although they say there are a few as they used to hang people in the backyard. How terrible! I did not visit the backyard.  


This is a massive wooden door. Its middle isn't empty as most doors nowadays. It opens onto a tiny room with another door... 


... made of metal with two openings; one is a window and the other is for the food tray. You see this is the isolation cell a.k.a. the Hole! Once they close this door and turn off the light, and close the wooden door, you are completely separated from the world. 


You can scream and bang on the door or walls as much as you want, no one will hear you. Disturbing, really. Let's go see something else. 

I just can not imagine this place with no electricity and no heat. Built in 1825, it is made of stone, bricks, and concrete. It must have been so cold and dark in here with only candles as light. Brrr.

The ladies' cell (if we can call them ladies). I'm sure the bathtub wasn't part of the original floor plan. 


The guys had more room when they behaved well. 
They had this area for themselves during the daytime. (It was set up for an event the day I took the pictures. They host evening tours with dining and of course, an escape room game called The Prison Break.) At the back of the cell, you see the shower with a towel rack and behind the glass doors the potty. The cells on the left were the sleeping quarters and I mean sleeping... 

... as there was absolutely no room to do anything else. I wonder how men of 300lb could fit in there? 

The hole at the bottom of the bed is to store your 

very own chamber pot. How handy! 

The space in other cells wasn't any better. 

Some of the corridors are just as narrow. 

The blue staircase where they say a little girl is seen sometimes. Unfortunately, she didn't appear while I was there. Darn! The access to the upper floor is closed as those offices are still being used by the courthouse. From here, if you turn to your left ... 

you will pass in front of the kitchen and get to my jail cell. Yes, that's my laptop on the floor. Through the second door, held open by a stool, is the electrical room or whatever they had back then and ... 

... finally, the door that will safeguard me against all the ghosts, haha.  
And this is the horror I had to deal with ... 


... mountains of boxes and old filing systems. Charming. 

I considered myself lucky though as I had good lighting (compared to other cells) and ventilation too. It was quite comfortable, except for the chair. I had to use the stepping ladder as I couldn't find anything else. Oh well, there are worst predicaments. 

Talking about chairs, I spotted this old one. Awesome! 
There were more pieces of furniture but the lighting was horrible and the pictures didn't come out right. Friday should be my last day in jail. We have a new girl at the office, so they are letting me out to train her, haha. 

Take care, everyone. 

;^)



10 comments:

Melisa- pinkernpunkinquilting said...

Oh what an interesting tour. Those are some tight cells. Glad to hear you will be out on reprieve. Lol. Have a great day and thank you for taking us along on the tour. .

Lin said...

What a place! Wow, so interesting and those tiny cells. Well I think you deserve a reprieve after two weeks in there. xx

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

how interesting but I don't know if I would want to work there! I assume this is all a museum now? And you are going through boxes of files? What kind of job do you have

PaintedThread said...

What an amazing and scary place. Thanks for sharing!

Angie in SoCal said...

Oh! How inhumane that solitary room was!! Thanks for the tour. It was very interesting.

MissPat said...

OMG, Chantal, that looks really creepy. Do you have to go back after you train the newbie? Are there other people working there or are you alone (which would be really creepy)?
Pat

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Ou là là, ce n'est pas l'environnement de travail rêvé ! Bon courage...

Fiona said...

What an interesting old building.... I don't think I could work alone in there though. I bet those walls could tell some stories. All you going through all the files?
Hugz

Susan said...

Your job must be so interesting! Thanks for the pictures, as that looks like a place to visit, but not to stay long. =)

Chookyblue...... said...

Always interesting to see how others have lived........I don't think I could have slept in that narrow bed section...... But then it you were there you had no choice.....