In the 1800’s when this old building was constructed confinement was based on steel bars. Every hall, door, stair well, and little corner is behind at least one set.

A hall may have been open, but each end is blocked and every door is wood and steel, with more bars when opened.

Windows of course were blocked but the steel was not always the rolled bars I expected.

Besides local criminals the old jail housed captured pirates. Apparently there were still pirates off the coast here in the early 1800’s.

Charleston has a history of pirates. The famous Captain William Teach blockaded the harbor and took prisoners for ransom. he was paid with medicine. Captain Teach is also known as Blackbeard.

We do have a pirates alley, a pirate house and court yards that served merchants with ‘goods’. And Blackbeard is said to have buried is treasure here (as well as every other town along the US southern coast).

Makes great storied on the tours, but most likely a few pirates at the end of their years were caught here. Blackbeard, he never got off the ship, stayed in the harbor, and had his head removed shortly after leaving here.

There are 3 stories in the old jail. An 1886 earthquake damaged the building and the 4th floor and a tower were removed.

Open air stairs, running through a large shaft connect each floor. The entrances and other openings are barred shut.

A guess on my part is that there were some type of openings on the main stair shafts for ventilation. Growing up in an old NYC tenement I an aware of the air shafts built into buildings this age. In NYC it was law all 1800’s buildings have a shaft to prevent disease. Given the crowded cells and damp rooms I may be too kind here, after all this was an 1800’s prison where many people never left.

For a short time, starting in 2000, the American College Of Building Arts owned the jail. Some features, like the above plaster carving, were added. In a short time it was discovered there were little skills available to maintain the historic nature of the construction and the building was sold. It is now a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Because the building housed the wardens family, civil war prisoners, actual high sea pirates, and overnight innocents several different sets of stairs and entrances are available.

The different stairs and steel barred hallways meant that in pretty short order I was lost. I have no sense of direction… none.

There are no modern sliding metal doors here. Built in 1802 with cell renovations in 1855 everything is hammered steel bars, and reinforced wood.

You do walk through a few cages before entering the main hallways.

The only known escape I could find was the well published one by highwayman and murder John Fisher. His wife was imprisoned with him, the famous (beautiful) Lavinia Fisher. When she could not escape out the windows with her husband he returned in the morning, to be hanged soon after. Lavinia was a nasty piece of work and later 30 – 40 bodies were found buried under their tavern.

Oh, they hung her too even though it was rare to execute married women. Stories have her hung the day after John that way she was not married.