The Globe and Mail

It used to house prisoners behind the walls of its imposing 19th-century façade. But now the landmark building popularly known as the Don Jail appears set to get a new lease on life. The legendary institution's dank cells, which have been sitting vacant for years, will be converted into offices as part of a proposed redevelopment of the jail site at Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East. Hundreds of condo units have been planned within a stone's throw of the building, which is to be incorporated into a new 504-bed hospital run by Bridgepoint Health. Once redeveloped, the building's grand interiors, described by one architect as "Harry Potter-like," will be open to the public for the first time in decades. And those who pass under the keystone depicting Old Man Time can do so secure in the knowledge that they won't be banged up for life, or swing lifeless from the gallows.