In the modern day we use it as a witticism - a "ball and chain" can be a job, can be a marriage partner - but it's easy to forget that such things were once literal, and an example of that is this prisoner (not a real one, I grant you) wearing such a device in his tiny cell. Imagine spending 23 hours or more per day in a cell like this with an iron ball around your ankle.

In this shot you can see the ball and chain moderately well, but not so much the prisoner; since then I've rectified that by adding another image (13185) which reverses that.

The item in the corner would presumably be the euphemistically named "night tub"; essentially the closest thing prisoners had to a toilet, and which required emptying each morning.