When a person dies, the soul and spirit are separated from the body, and the body is placed in the grave. Before the New Testament, SHEOL/HADES was the place in the lower parts of the earth where souls ans spirits went and remained silent. The righteous and the unrighteous were kept in separate sections.
When Christ died (gave up the ghost or spirit) His soul and spirit went to Sheol/Hades for three days and three nights. But that was the limit of His time in that region, where He "preached" to the spirits in prison (presumably all the spirits, righteous, and unrighteous, plus the evil spirits (fallen angels in Tartarus). We are not told exactly what was PROCLAIMED (translated as preached) but it was not the Gospel to give those spirits *a second chance*. It was Christ's proclamation of His victory on the cross over sin, death, Hades, Hell, Satan, and all his evil spirits. When Christ rose from the dead He took the righteous dead (all those in *Abraham's Bosom*) with Him to Heaven (the New Jerusalem). Since then all the saints go directly to Heaven. There is no such thing as Soul Sleep or Purgatory.
*Hell* however should only be applied to Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, created for the devil and his angels, but also the eternal abode of all those who re not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. See Revelation 20. It is presently unoccupied, and will remain so until the Beast (the Antichrist), the False Prophet, and the Devil are cast into it (along with all the evil angels).