As I have often mentioned, long-term confinement for black people who transgressed the law was rare until after the Civil War. The most widely used form of punishment for slaves in the South was whipping. Christopher R. Adamson (1983) points out that:

“The very idea of imprisonment as a punishment for crimes committed by slaves was a contradiction. The African slave was already a prisoner. Whereas the white felon was punished for violating norms of freedom, slaves were punished for rejecting the rules of bondage. Any idea of rehabilitative confinement for slaves threatened the philosophical basis of the peculiar institution (p.557).”

There were however occasions when a slave might need to be detained while awaiting the administration of “justice” usually some form of corporal punishment (as has already been discussed). Below is a photograph of the Oakridge Jail which was originally located on a Louisiana plantation:

The Oak Ridge jail is believed to be the only surviving pre Civil War wooden jail in Louisiana. The parish sheriff used to lock up any criminals, whether free or slave. It is of plank construction with no corner posts or framing materials. The walls, floors and ceiling are fabricated of three sets of heart of pine boards, laminated together with thousands of nails. This construction technique created a four inch wall that could not be penetrated with an axe or hatchet. Chains and shackles were located on the walls of the two small cells.