This abandoned jail was originally built in the 1950s as a family owned and operated motel. It was built along a once thriving area lined with small businesses, venues, theaters, and retail shops. Through the years following, this once bustling area of businesses began to decline as the neighborhood started experiencing problems with guns, drugs, prostitution, and other various crimes. By the 1980’s, multiple efforts were underway to clean up the neighborhood. The motel was purchased by the local sheriff office and was converted into a jail. The jail was small, so it was originally designed to house women inmates and offenders. By the 2000’s, the jail began to house juvenile offenders that were convicted of both felony and misdemeanor crimes. Some of the inmates were also held at the jail while they waited to be transferred to a prison to serve long-term sentences. Approximately 20 years ago the jail started to have multiple issues after a major storm wrecked havoc in the area and flooded a large portion of the jail itself. There have been many tragic accounts documented of what exactly happened in the jail during the major storm and the flooding that followed. Here are some accounts that have been published: 1. One inmate was incarcerated in the jail during the catastrophic storm. She had to be moved from the first floor because her cell had flooded from the storm. She was then moved and locked in a cell on the second floor. She says that the guards were assaulting several of the other inmates. She further claimed that she did not have food or water for over five days and requests for her heart medication went ignored. She was scared that she would die in the jail and never see her family again. 2. One inmate stated that guards gave the inmates contaminated water from a “left over shower” to drink. Then the guards took the water back to bathe in and afterwards returned it to the inmates to drink again. She reported that several inmates were fainting and having seizures and the guards refused to help them. She also said that she saw guards ignore five or six girls beating one girl over a food dispute. She further stated that after the storm and flooding, the jail cells became pitch black and the toilets were all overflowing at this point, so there was a toxic and foul odor that filled the entire jail. 3. One inmate reported that she felt like they were just left to die in the flooded jail with no fresh air, no electricity, no food, and no water. She further mentioned that over 100 other women inmates were being held in her jail dorm because of flooding and with that many inmates crammed in a small space, the jail dorm became unbearably hot. She stated that she had to drink water out of trash cans. She even went on record about recurring nightmares regarding what she saw and what she went through at the jail. 4. One inmate reported that the major storm left the inmates without lights and proper air ventilation. Medication was not provided to any of the inmates. She further reported that the inmates in her jail dorm were not being fed and were forced to drink contaminated water out of the toilet. She talked about how the smell was also overwhelming and became unbearable. She stated that smell at that point was horrendous. There was feces, vomit, blood, and urine that permeated from every crevice inside the jail. She and some of the other inmates were eventually forced to break windows to get fresh air. Although the jail did operate for a few years after the catastrophic storm, it was pretty much the final nail in the coffin as it just suffered to much structural and electrical damage. In 2015, a brand new jail was opened in the area. This meant that it was the “end of the road” for the old jail. The old jail was permanently closed and all the inmates were transferred over to the new jail. In 2021, plans were announced to demolish the former jail with hopes to put an end to a very tragic story in American history.
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