Inveraray Jail was our first stop when we arrived in Inveraray. You can read all about our lunch and quick stop at Inveraray Castle here.

But now, time for jail!

Inveraray Jail was a 19th-century prison that locked up men, women, and children.

I love all historic places, but old prisons are extra awesome because of the level of creepiness.

At the front where you pay, they have a sign (see below) with a prisoner record from the same week in the past. Kind of crazy that a 12-year-old was imprisoned for stealing a dog whistle…

The first room of the jail contains a lot of stories and images of some of the crazy crimes and punishments from the 1800s. This room is called the Torture, Death and Damnation exhibit, so that gives you a pretty solid idea of what it contains.

The next room is the County Courtroom which is set up as though a trial is actually going on. The figures are kind of creepy (and if other tourists are in there, it’s a little hard to figure out the statues from the real people!).

Sadly, my hair kind of matches the hair on these fake humans (it was really windy and cold, ok?).

The bottom photo shows the entrance to one of the prison buildings. That is actually a real human, but he was stern and scary and really played his part well!

Watch out for the guy sitting on the toilet!

Some of the exhibits were pretty upsetting, like the picture below of the children who were imprisoned for silly little crimes, or like the picture below that of a mother who gave birth to her child while in prison. You can only imagine the conditions in a 19th-century jail.

One jail cell exhibit was of an insane man who had killed his family (I think – there were so many stories!). It was terrifying because you could hear him raving and laughing hysterically. I took a video, so check out instagram to see it!

The bottom photo shows an exhibit of the Black Maria and explained the story behind the name. This vehicle is how they would transport criminals to the jails.

Trying out the whipping table.

A couple cells contained information about the labor inmates were forced to complete during their imprisonment. The bottom info is about the crank machine.

Fiance trying out the crank machine. It seems like a pretty terrible way to pass the day. At least with some of the other labor activities they were actually accomplishing something and had tangible products in the end.

The photo below is of the prison guard’s room. It sure wasn’t a life of luxury, and according to the information there, the main guard really wasn’t paid that well.

There were two cell blocks outside without roofs so the prisoners could get some fresh air.

We made it out of prison safely and even sent some digital postcards to our fams in the U.S. I highly recommend a trip to Inveraray Jail if you’re in the area!