DO TIME IN A BISBEE JAIL Bisbee, Az One place is where folks spent the night alright, but not by choice.... Reg Turner was the Inn Manager the night we stayed. "This was an actual jail, the building was built in 1904 and was an active jail until 1915. We're going into what was the drunk tank (now the kitchenette) when this was the jail. This was one big room here. And back here where the bathroom is at, that was one of the solitary cells." This is the OK Street Jailhouse Inn (no relation to the OK Corral a few miles away in Tombstone). It has ONE suite, the bars are real, however now, it ISN'T a crime to do time here... "This was the...the really bad guys...were housed up here( now the master bedroom). And it has the steel door and of course the steel bars and everything that kep them in. Back here where you see the little door with the bars, that was the solitary cell for the bad guys up on this floor. (now a closet). What a fun place. The jailer's office is now a sitting room, the whole place is more like a very nice apartment than anything else. You get the key, the whole building is yours...you're the jailer and the inmate. And it's really popular with... "The kids," laughs Reg. "Oh, man, they think this is the greatest. Jail! They go home and tell their friends they were in jail this weekend. And they have the pictures to prove it." Real bars cast moody shadows as the afternoon wanes, shadows that one time fell over drunks and violent criminals and who knows how many ne'er-do-wells spendin' time in what is now a very unique place to...voluntarily "do time." -//- NOTES: Bisbee is located in SE Arizona, about a 15 minute drive from Tombstone. The jail is located at 9 OK Street, in Bisbee...actually in Old Bisbee, abaout a block from the Copper Queen Hotel, a major landmark in town. Price is $115.00 per couple for the 1st night ($5.00 each for additional people) and each additional night is $85.00. For info call: (520) 432-7435 . |
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