Santa Barbara County History

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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Source:
A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Santa Barbara,
San Luis Obispo, and Ventura, California
by Yda Addis Storke
Published in 1891 in Chicago by the Lewis Publishing Co.


THE COUNTY JAIL 

was built in 1876, at a cost of about $9,000. It is 28 X 36 feet, and contains an office, 
sitting-room, dining-room, kitchen, pantry, closet, and hall. In the second story are 
three large cells for female prisoners, the main entrance to which is through a 
wrought-iron skeleton door. The prison part of the jail is 28 x 31 feet over the ground, 
and one story high. The floor is of stone, save in the prisons, where it is of three-eighth 
inch steam-boiler iron, overlaid with wood. Entering through the iron door, one reaches 
the hall, which is six feet wide, and runs the full length of the building. This hall is made 
of iron bars, three fourths of an inch square, set on end, three inches apart, between 
the floor and the ceiling, with iron doors at the left and right, opening into the cells, 
eight In number. The doors are opened by levers from the main hall. The cells are seven 
feet long, six wide, and eight high. During the day, the prisoners have the freedom of the 
hall, being locked up at night. The ceiling, floor, partitions, and doors of the cell, are all 
made of the boiler iron aforesaid.