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Description
<p>This postcard shows the stocks outside of the reconstructed public gaol (jail) at Williamsburg. The Council of Burgesses ordered the construction of the prison in 1701. Its function was to confine prisoners who could be sentenced to death or mutilation. Conditions in the jail were notoriously bad; prisoners were held in handcuffs and leg irons and poor sanitary conditions frequently spread an illness described as “jail fever.” In 1722 the prison was expanded to include a house for the jailkeeper and additional rooms for debtors, separate from those reserved for more violent criminals.</p>
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Physical Location
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
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Restriction on Access
Open
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