Spanish jail

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The old Spanish jail on Alcaniz Street

The Spanish jail or gaol, known in Spanish as the calabozo ("dungeon") and corrupted in English to calaboose, was constructed during Pensacola's second Spanish period at the southwest corner of Alcaniz and Intendencia Streets. Despite conditions that were described as "deplorable" by federal surveyors who inventoried the Spanish properties after the 1821 transfer to the United States, it remained the primary detention facility for both Pensacola and Escambia County until 1875, when a new county jail was constructed on Jefferson Street at Main.

The Spanish jail was a two-story brick structure, about 18 feet by 36 feet, with two rooms on each floor. Prisoners were held on the first floor, while the jailer and his family stayed on the second. A small wooden building on the property served as a kitchen.

Notable prisoners

List incomplete