By Taylor McClure, Special to The Record – The Record recently came across photographs of the Winter Street Prison in Sherbrooke. The Winter Street Jail was built in 1865 by Charles Coté, and its construction was based on plans by architect Frederic Preston. The prison consists of a main building, a stone fence penitentiary wall, an interior court, plenty of green space, a jailors house, and a brick building that was an addition to the prison in 1940. It has 51 jail cells, three that were reserved for women, as well as an isolation cell. When the prison was up and running, it gained a reputation for being one of the worst jails in Quebec. The cells were very small with just enough space to fit a single bed. Prisoners used pots to go to the bathroom and the jail only received actual toilettes in 1899. The prison also went without running water until 1914. In the winter, temperatures were unbearable and prisoners were forced to use a coal stove to heat their cells. See full story in the Tuesday, May 28 edition of The Record.
