Lincoln County's new jail, built in 1811 to replace an older wooden jail, followed the modern style with individual cells, but prisoners frequently outnumbered the twelve cells. People were jailed for debt, infidelity, children's misbehavior, not attending church, and for women being deemed scolds, so miscreants and unfortunates were confined alongside murderers and rapists. Women and the insane were housed on the third floor, and during the War of 1812 the jail also held foreign prisoners. One prisoner, probably a sailor, drew a fully rigged clipper ship on his cell wall, while others drew a soldier and wrote part of a poem in beautiful penmanship. A new jailer was appointed whenever a new sheriff was elected, and the brick house for the jailer's family adjoined the jail from the inside, where the jailer's wife had to cook and clean for the prisoners as well as her own family. The jail remained in use from 1811 to 1953.