About Gothic Hanging Jail
The old Beauregard Parish Jail does not look like a building designed to disappear into the background. Completed in 1914, the three-story lockup rises over downtown DeRidder in Collegiate Gothic style, with pointed arches, dormers, bay windows, heavy concrete construction, and the proportions of an institutional mansion. Locals know it by the much less elegant name Hanging Jail.
Inside, the architecture becomes stranger. Cells open toward a central spiral staircase. Each cell originally had its own bathroom, an unusual feature for the period, while upper cells received light from skylights. Hard steel bunks could hold about a dozen prisoners per cell. A long tunnel connected the jail with the courthouse across the way so prisoners could be moved without mixing with the public.
The nickname comes from a double execution carried out inside the building in 1928. The jail’s upper level and central stair arrangement provided the setting, permanently tying the building’s unusual design to its most notorious event. That history adds a grim layer to a structure that would already be odd simply for resembling a Gothic academic building built to confine prisoners.
The jail remained in use for decades and is now open for scheduled tours through the Beauregard Tourist Commission. Visitors can see the cells, stairs, tunnel-related spaces, and concrete interior for themselves. The building does not need exaggerated stories to be unsettling. Its documented design is strange enough.