The Old Jail housed a great variety of inmates. John and Lavinia Fisher, and other members of their gang, convicted of highway robbery in the Charleston Neck region were imprisoned here in 1819 to 1820. They were said to be the first known serial killers (this was wrong, they were highway men).

Some of the last 19th-century high-sea pirates were jailed here in 1822 while they awaited hanging.

The Jail was active after the discovery of Denmark Vesey’s planned slave revolt. Although the main trials were held in the Workhouse, some slaves were briefly held in both the Jail and the Poor House, and four white men convicted of supporting the 1822 plot were imprisoned here. (Wikipedia)

Note; The old Charleston Jail is being renovated to be used for commercial purposes. A few historians and photographers were invited to document the historical site before it is gone. This is a part of the project.