All of the governmental yamens could be used to hold prisoners. In Jingdou, there were many such places. Counting from the Jingdou government, there were seven yamens that had the authority in Qing law to detain prisoners. The prisoners who were related to court politics, as well as those who had committed the most heinous crimes, were often held in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, annex of the Supreme Court, and Overwatch Council jail. These were places the common people thought of as a bottomless abyss and often appeared in novels as Celestial Prisons.
After the Overwatch Council was built, those who played a powerful and sinister role in court politics and high-ranking officials who were captured were all kept there. Extraordinary people with special skills were kept there underground long-term. The level of the prison gradually rose above that of the Ministry of Justice and Supreme Court. It became a Celestial Prison in both name and reality.
