Leverett Street Jail

The Leverett Street Jail (1822–1851) in Boston, Massachusetts served as the city and county prison for some three decades in the mid-19th century. Inmates included John White Webster. Notorious for its overcrowding, the facility closed in 1851, when inmates were installed in the nearby, newly built Charles Street Jail, also in the West End.

Begun around 1819, the "new gaol in Leverett-street" opened in 1822. Prior to that time, many had recognized the previous town jail (since the 1630s located off Court Street) as inadequate.

In 1823, "on inspecting the common jails of the city, in Leverett Street, it was found that, of the two stone prisons there situated, one was amply sufficient for all the usual exigencies of the courts of justice. It was determined, therefore, to convert the other into a house of correction, and employ the inmates in the adjoining jail-yard in hammering stone and like materials." Thus "there were two separate prisons within the same enclosure."

Architecturally, "the Leverett Street jail was considered very secure, walls and floors being composed of large blocks of hewn stone clamped together with iron, while between the courses loose cannon-balls were laid in cavities hollowed out for the purpose."

Don Pedro Gibert and his pirate associates on trial in Boston in 1834 were held in the Leverett Street jail. In 1835 abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was held in the jail temporarily for his own protection when a mob turned against him.

Others held in the prison included, for instance, people in custody after police raids on Ann Street. One night in 1851, "165 persons of all ages, sexes, nations and colors ... were marched off in pairs to the Leverett Street Jail ... for the various crimes of piping, fiddling, dancing, drinking, and all their attendant vices."

Executions took place at the jail. In 1831, "Joseph Gadett and Thomas Colinett [were hanged] ... for piracy," and in 1834 Henry Joseph also. In 1850, Dr. Webster of the highly publicized George Parkman murder case was executed.

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