List of Paris Prisons under the Revolution – Wikipedia

There is a deep difference between the conceptions of the old regime and that of the revolution as to the role of prisons.

Imprisonment is considered before 1789 as a public security measure, to put an individual out of harm, or a provisional situation in front of the judgment or pending the execution of the sentence, rarely as a punitive act practiced more Generally in the form of fines, body punishment or forced labor. The exceptions relate to the convictions pronounced by the ecclesiastical courts and the imprisonment of women to replace the pain of galleys which could not be applied to them ^{[ first ]} .

Constituents consider, on the contrary, prison as a form of punishment.

In 1791, ON distinguishes:

• prisons for defendants not yet judged (arrest houses);
• Prisons for condemned (houses of force, correction, prison).

In practice, the multiplication of arrests does not allow this distinction. The ten Parisian prisons of 1789 was brought to fifty in 1793.

At the height of terror, the prison population reaches a peak in Paris with 7,140 prisoners counted according to the states published by the police ^{[ 2 ]} .

The living conditions of prisoners varied a lot from one place of detention to another. There were epidemics in the most ill -held prisons.

The arrests, often declared by the General Security Committee, were relayed by the twelve police officers in charge of Paris. The committee also had its own agents, the most famous of which was Dossonville.

Some 1,153 prisoners last their salvation to Charles de La Bussière, employee of the police of the Committee of Public Safety, who spent his nights destroying the accusation of the incarcerated suspects.

Prisons of the Old Regime [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

There were sixteen prisons in Paris at that time:

• the Abbey prison, a former prison of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and military prison under the old regime;
• Carmelite prison or Carmelite convent prison where refractory priests are particularly detained;
• the concierge, the oldest of prisons, anteroom of the guillotine;
• The Plessis college;
• the English convent (English Benedictine of the Champ-de-l’Alouette);
• The Convent of the English girls of the Saint-Victor ditches;
• The Madelonnettes prison, former convent;
• The prison of the Force, divided into 2:
• the hospice of the bishopric;
• Leol Prinations du Luxembourg;
• Port Free Prison, ex-Abbaye of Port-Royal;
• Sainte-Pélagie prison, former convent;
• Saint-Lazare prison, former leper hospital;
• the town hall stopping chamber;
• The Street House of rue de Sèvres, former hospice;
• The Salpêtrière Hospital, transformed into a prison;
• Bicêtre hospital, transformed into prison;
• The Grand-Châtelet prison, reserved for common law criminals;
• The temple used as prison for Louis XVI and the royal family.

Mansions and health homes transformed into prisons [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• the Belhomme pension;
• The Clinic of Doctor Brunet, rue Buffon;
• Chez Coignard, in Picpus,
• The College of Bernardins, n ^O 20 rue de Poissy
• The old madness of Ninon de Lenclos located at the site of the current n ^O 12 rue de Picpus (enlarged to the convent of Picpus under the terror)
• Blanchard house in Picpus;
• At DESNOS and MONTPRIN, 1466 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs;
• The Mahay health home, 17 (or 13?) Rue du Chemin-Vert;
• La Folie-Regnault, 3 rue de la Folie-Regnault, section of Popincourt;
• At the Doctor of the Chapel, rue Saint-Maur;
• At Doctor Lemoine, rue des Amandiers;
• the old health house installed in the Charolais castle transformed into a prison by the committee of the Faubourg-Montmartre section;
• Chez Picquenot, 48 Faubourg Saint-Antoine, district of Bercy;
• Rue des Lions-Saint-Paul, 12 disused on 5 Brumaire year III;
• The Hôtel de Dreneuc, rue de Provence
• The former hotel of Talaru (belonging before the Revolution to the Marquis César Marie de Talaru, first butler of the Queen), rue de Richelieu;
• The Bird Convent, 83 rue de Sèvres.

Several censuses of prisoners of the prisons of Paris took place at the request of the National Convention, in particular:

• the June 6, 1793 , we counted:

A total of 1310 prisoners.

• the July 6, 1793 , they were :

A total of 1303 prisoners.

• the August 6, 1793 , they were :

A total of 1555 prisoners.