The Calaboose was Red Bay's only jail until 1949, when the city hall was built. It was a small brick building about 10 feet by 20 feet, built over a small ditch because plumbing was almost non-existent, and the ditch served as a built-in convenience for the occupants. A partition divided it into two spaces, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen, and two small barred windows allowed family and friends to pass contraband such as cigarettes and candy through the bars. Neighborhood boys sometimes sprayed prisoners through the bars with a water hose from a nearby residence, and before that buckets were used for the same purpose. By most accounts, the people held there were usually those who had too much moonshine before coming to town or after arriving, used abusive language, or got into fistfights. During the years it was in use, and even for some time afterward, prisoners could be locked up with no means of escape in case of fire, natural disaster, or medical emergency, and only many years later was a law passed regarding fulltime jailers.