SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — Before today’s modern jail in Brunswick County, there was an Old Jail in Southport which housed prisoners until 1971.
The structure was built in 1904 for a little less than $7,000, after several previous wooden jails were destroyed by hurricanes and fires. Located at the corner of Nash and Rhett Streets, across from the Old Smithville Burying Ground, the two-story building could house up to 11 prisoners as a time from across Brunswick County, but typically only saw around two to three.
Inmates would only stay for short periods of time for minor offenses. The building saw the jailer living on the first floor in two tiny rooms with their family, and inmates in the cells upstairs. Each cell was designed with four bunks, a commode and a wash basin. Despite the hot summers of the Cape Fear, the building never had a working air conditioning while it was a jail…