What were Old West jails like?

What were Old West jails like? Richard Olson Bagley, Minnesota For the most part, the Hollywood cliché of a frontier jail, with open bars on the window and cell, did not exist. Some Old West jails were elaborate. In 1874, the citizens of Helena, Montana, spent $11,000 ($214,000 in today’s dollars) on a tall, red brick structure that contained six cells, an exercise hall, a kitchen and a bunkhouse for the guards. Most jails were crude. Prisoners were tied to logs, telegraph poles