On October 16, 1926, Bibb County officials invited the taxpayers to inspect their new $300,000 jail on top of the courthouse. The whimsical newspaper reporter described it as a hotel, with "all outside rooms," "cold running water," and "high enough to be above the mosquitoes."
The jail, as originally constructed, would accommodate three hundred prisoners. It was segregated by race and by sex, and had a separate, walled-off section for juveniles. On October 19, the first ninety prisoners were transferred from the old jail. Six of them were under sentence of death. This facility would serve Bibb County for the next fifty-four years.
In the 1950's and 60's, the fat jail sergeant, perched on his stool like a frog on a thumbtack, would take advantage of inexperienced lawyers trying to interview clients. On the pretext of lack of staff, he would require them to go back into the cell block to interview clients.
This trip through the narrow passages of the cell block was grim; Dante minus Virgil. As soon as the prisoners realized a lawyer was among them, they reached out through the bears, calling "lawyer, lawyer." All were innocent, and each had a mother or an aunt coming that very day with a fee for the lucky young lawyer who would establish their innocence.
When available, the actual "interview room" was not much better. It was a plywood cubicle near the kitchen. In the mid 1960's, two decent interview rooms were installed. There were, however, intercoms in these rooms, which aroused the suspicion of some lawyers.
Informal visitation by kith and kin of prisoners "under the clock" was accomplished by standing in Mulberry Park and bellowing up to the prisoner, who might be out on the roof "run around." The prisoner bellowed back. Messages were also conveyed to prisoners confined to cells, and answers relayed in the same stentorian manner. This was a regular weekend occurrence.
The courthouse jail became overcrowded and was always a potential firetrap. In 1979, in response to a federal lawsuit, the present Bibb County Law Enforcement Center was constructed on Oglethorpe. In January of 1980 a parade of school buses, preceded and followed by patrol cars, moved up Second Street to Cotton Avenue, then up First Street, conveying Bibb County prisoners to their new home. All traffic was stopped at intersections by heavily armed deputies. The move was without incident.
- Frank M. McKenney, MBA Historian