A squat stone hut in one corner of Sam Sharpe Square, The Cage was built in 1806 as a lockup — the small building where runaway slaves, captured sailors, and the merely drunken were held overnight before being dealt with by the colonial authorities. After emancipation it served as a gaol; today it operates as a tiny museum of MoBay's slave-era history, with a handful of exhibits and short captions explaining the punishment ordnance and the workings of the slave system.
The visit takes ten minutes. It is small, dimly lit, and uncomfortable — which is exactly the point.