La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) ( or ) is a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

operated by the French Prison Service of the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

located in the east of the

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...

district of the 14th arrondissement in southern

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, at 42 Rue de la Santé. It is one of the most famous prisons in France, with both VIP and maximum security sections. La Santé is one of the three main prisons of the Paris area, along with Fleury-Mérogis (Europe's largest prison) and Fresnes, both located in the southern suburbs.

History

The architect Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer built the prison, which was inaugurated on 20 August 1867. The prison is located on the site of a former coal market and replaced the Madelonnettes Convent in the 3rd Arrondissement, which had been used as a prison since the French Revolution. Previously, on the same site, was a ''Maison de la santé'' (House of Health), built on the orders of

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (; ; born Ana María Mauricia; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was Queen of France from 1615 to 1643 by marriage to King Louis XIII. She was also Queen of Navarre until the kingdom's annexation into the French crown ...

and transferred in 1651 to what is now the Sainte-Anne Hospital Center. In 1899, after the closure and demolition of the prison Grande Roquette, convicts were transferred to La Santé either to await transfer to the Prison of St-Laurent-du-Maroni in

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

or to await execution. Initially, there were 500 cells in La Santé, which was increased to 1,000 cells in 1900. The cells are 4 metres long, 2.5m wide and 3m high. The prison has a total capacity of as many as 2,000 prisoners, divided into 14 divisions. With executions having previously been performed at the entrance to Grande Roquette, it was decided to do something similar at La Santé. The

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

was erected at the corner of the Rue de la Santé and the Boulevard Arago, on the pavement. The first execution – and the first in Paris for ten years – occurred on 6 August 1909. It was for Georges Duchemin, who had been convicted of

parricide Parricide is the deliberate killing of one's own parent, spouse, child, or other close relative. However, the term is sometimes used more generally to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It is an umbrella term that can be used to ...

. On 7 May 1932, Eugene Boyer, a 27-year-old criminal who had been denied a presidential pardon the previous day by President Paul Doumer, was to be executed by guillotine. Doumer was assassinated the day the execution was scheduled: in France, the president could reverse his decision until the last moment and obviously Boyer could not benefit from this potential "ultimate mercy", so the execution was cancelled "in extremis" (twenty minutes before the time scheduled). He was finally pardoned by

Albert Lebrun Albert François Lebrun (; 29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republica ...

on 13 May – which respected the tradition of pardoning those sentenced to death the first time in the presidential office – and he was sent to prison in Guiana. He was referred to as André Baillard in the book by Henri Charrière. Nearly forty prisoners ended their lives in this place. It was also at this site that the second-last public execution in France was performed, for burglar and double murderer Max Bloch on 2 June 1939. Fifteen days later on 17 June, Eugen Weidmann, guilty of six murders, was guillotined in front of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

prison and on 24 June the decision was made to ban public executions. In the same decision, the death penalty was made dependent on the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

(either Seine-et-Oise or

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

), with prisoners executed inside Prison de la Santé. On 15 March 1940, the Vocoret brothers, who killed three policemen in Issy-les-Moulineaux, were the first criminals to be guillotined inside the prison. During the

German Occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

, in addition to

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

criminals, there were also executions of 18 Resistance fighters and

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

s. Nine of them were guillotined between August 1941 and July 1942. The other nine were shot on 30 April 1944. They are memorialized by a plaque affixed to the wall of the prison at the corner of Rue Jean-Dolent and Rue de la La Santé. After the Liberation of France, only common criminals were executed in the courtyard of the prison (except for several FLN activists between 1958 and 1960). Those executed included Marcel Petiot in 1946, Marquis Alain de Bernardy de Sigoyer in 1947, Emile Buisson ("Public Enemy No. 1") in 1956, Jacques Fesch in 1957, and Georges Rapin, known as "Mr. Bill", in 1960. The last death sentences by

at La Santé were those of Roger Bontems and Claude Buffet. They were the authors of an escape attempt with hostage-taking that ended with the death of the hostages in 1971. Sentenced to death at

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

on 29 June 1972, they were executed on the following 28 November. According to them, those sentenced to death who were from the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region were locked in Fresnes Prison (which from 1978 would become the only prison permitted to host executions) but neither were executed due to the eventual abolition of the death penalty. The last two remaining guillotines in France are now stored in the basement of the National Centre for Guidance in Fresnes prison. In 2000, the chief doctor of the prison, Véronique Vasseur, published a book in which she denounced the very poor imprisonment conditions. The book was a shock to the public and prompted parliamentary evaluation of the situation. In 2014, the prison closed for renovations, which required 5 years to complete

Buildings

The prison features a hub-and-spoke design similar to that which had been implemented previously for the construction of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. The prison is surrounded by: *Boulevard Arago to the north. *Rue Messier to the west. *Rue Jean-Dolent to the south. *Rue de la Santé to the east. One of the peculiarities of la Santé is that, until 2000, inmates were divided by geographic origin and ethnicity within the prison. One group of prisoners (those who are studying in particular) are grouped separately but most of them were arranged in four blocks: Block A:

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

Block B: Black Africa Block C:

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

Block D: rest of the world. These blocks have undergone substantial renovation since 2000. The prison was partially closed from 2014 until 2019 in order to be rehabilitated; the parole section, however, was kept in operation during this time. Prison de la Santé is now the last ''intra-muros'' prison in Paris. The other large prisons (in all categories) dependent on Paris are

Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...

, Fleury-Mérogis, Fresnes, and

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, ...

. Image:Entrée prison de la Santé.JPG, Main entrance of the Prison at 42 rue de la Santé. Image:P1330845 Paris XIV Bd Arago rwk.jpg, North face of the La Santé Prison, taken from Boulevard Arago.

The "VIP" Section

The imprisonment of convicted "personalities" is one of the features of La Santé Prison. The area where these well-known people are imprisoned is termed the "special area" by the administration. The visiting rooms for these prisoners are at 1 rue Messier as for other prisoners (where there is nearby accommodation for visiting relatives). The movie ''Quartier V.I.P.'' is set partly there.

Some notable prisoners

* Hocine Aït Ahmed –

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n Politician (and one of the nine "historic leaders" of the FLN) *

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

* Patrick Balkany *Lieutenant-colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry – attack of Petit-Clamart against President de Gaulle in 1962 * Ahmed Ben Bella –

n Politician (and one of the nine "historic leaders" of the FLN and former President of Algeria) * Bernard Bonnet * Mohamed Boudiaf –

n Politician (and one of the nine "historic leaders" of the FLN and former President of Algeria) * Clairvaux mutineers * Yvan Colonna – for the assassination of Claude Érignac * Maurice Challe – attempted coup against the France of

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

Algiers putsch of 1961 The Algiers putsch (; or ), also known as the putsch of the generals (), was a failed coup d'état intended to force French President Charles de Gaulle not to abandon French Algeria, the resident European community and pro-French Algerians. Org ...

* Léon Daudet * Mourad Dhina –

n Politician, imprisoned from 16 January to 4 July 2012. * Alén Diviš * Antonio Ferrara – armoured car robbery, escape * Jacques Fesch *

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...

* Paul Gorguloff – killer of Paul Doumer (President of France) * Willem Holleeder – infamous Dutch criminal * Cor van Hout *

Félicien Kabuga Félicien Kabuga (born 1 March 1933) is a Rwandan businessman and genocide suspect who played a major role in the run-up to the Rwandan genocide. A multimillionaire,

– Financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide *

Jérôme Kerviel Jérôme Kerviel (; born 1977) is a French rogue trader who was convicted and imprisoned in the 2008 Société Générale trading loss for position of trust, breach of trust, forgery and unauthorized use of the bank's computers, resulting in los ...

* Léon Lacombe – burglar and murderer who was part of the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

movement * Pierre Lagaillarde * Younes Latifi better known as Mister You or Yougataga * Francesc Macià – President of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

(Spain) * Cheb Mami *

Jacques Mesrine Jacques Mesrine (; 28 December 19362 November 1979) was a French criminal responsible for numerous murders, bank robberies, burglaries, and kidnappings in France, the US, and Canada. Mesrine repeatedly escaped from prison and made internation ...

– robbery, murder, escape, illegal confinement of a judge, abduction of a Canadian millionaire * Ernesto Milá * Jean-Christophe Mitterrand * Didier Morville better known under the name ''Joey Starr'', a rapper from Suprême NTM *

Samy Naceri Saïd Naceri (; born 2 July 1961), known as Samy Naceri (), is a French actor known for his work in the four '' Taxi'' films and '' The Code'' (''La Mentale''). Early life and career Naceri was born to an Algerian Berber Kabyle father and a Fre ...

* Michel Neyret – remanded from 3 October 2011 to 23 May 2012 in the matter of the case of corruption in the French police in 2011 * Xavier Niel – one month on remand with a warrant of committal for "the misuse of corporate assets" in 2004 (in the "VIP area" in the former cell of Alfred Sirven) *

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno ( , ; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially serv ...

– deposed military dictator of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

* Maurice Papon * Pascal Payet – armored car robbery, murder of a cash-escort, escape * Gabriel Péri * Marcel Petiot * Christophe Rocancourt in December 2011 *

Issei Sagawa also known as Pang or the Kobe Cannibal, was a Japanese lust murderer, cannibal, and necrophiliac known for the killing of Renée Hartevelt in Paris in 1981. He murdered Hartevelt and then mutilated, cannibalized, and performed necrophilia o ...

* Nicolas Salvadori better known as Seth Gueko * Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, called ''Carlos (The Jackal)''Davies, Lizzie.
Manuel Noriega, former ruler of Panama, sent to jail by French judge
" ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Tuesday 27 April 2010. Retrieved on 21 May 2010. "Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the Venezuelan terrorist better known as Carlos the Jackal, is currently serving a life sentence there.."Souchard, Pierre-Antoine.
Panama's ex-dictator Noriega jailed in France
" ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

''. Tuesday 27 April 2010. Retrieved on 20 May 2010. *

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; born Viktor Lvovich Kibalchich, ; 30 December 1890 – 17 November 1947) was a Belgian-born Russian revolutionary, novelist, poet, historian, journalist, and translator. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks in Janu ...

* Claude Sigala – main protagonist in the Coral Case * Alfred Sirven * Albert Spaggiari * Bruno Sulak (called the "

Arsène Lupin Arsène Lupin () is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine '' Je sais tout''. The first ...

of the 80s": 1955–1985; died from wounds after an attempted escape) * Bernard Tapie * Phan Chau Trinh (Vietnam Sep 1914–July 1915) * Lucio Urtubia – Spanish

* Élie Yaffa better known as Booba * Jean-Luc Brunel, the former head of a French model agency who was accused of supplying young girls to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was found hanged in his cell 2/19/2022.

Escapes

*1927: Léon Daudet escaped 13 days after his imprisonment with Joseph Delest with a false order of release given to the prison director. *8 May 1978:

, François Besse, and Carman Rives (who was killed during the escape). *May 1986: Helicopter escape of Michel Vaujour, piloted by his wife, Nadine Vaujour. These are the only known escapes from this prison.

Around the prison

''À la bonne Santé''

In front of the exit of the prison there was a cafe called ''À la bonne Santé'' (In good health). Relatives of the prisoners would meet there with released prisoners. Scenes from several films took place and were filmed there. The cafe closed in 1980. Currently the premises are used by the prison administration.

La Santé in popular culture

, a fictional character by Maurice Leblanc, was taken prisoner at La Santé prison at the end of his debut, the short story "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin," and in the novel ''813'' (1910). *La Santé Prison was the supposed scene of the movie '' Le Trou'' (The Hole) (1960), directed by

Jacques Becker Jacques Becker (; 15 September 1906 – 21 February 1960) was a French film director and screenwriter. His films, made during the 1940s and 1950s, encompassed a wide variety of genres, and they were admired by some of the filmmakers who led th ...

. During preparations for the escape of prisoners through the sewers the street names can be seen on signs in the sewers and there is an exterior view of the prison at the corner of the Boulevard Arago and Rue de la Santé. *In the song "L'argent ne fait pas le bonheur" (Money does not buy happiness) (1966) from the group ''Les Parisiennes'': "Take all your lothesgaily under your arm and leave without paying / We will bring you oranges at La Santé". * Georges Brassens evokes La Santé Prison in his song ''La femme d'Hector'' (Hector's wife): "When one takes us by hand / god darned good in a bag / And one sends us to plant / Cabbages at La Santé" as well as his song ''Le mauvais sujet repenti'' (The evil-doer repents): "After a century, was thrown / At the door of La Santé". *Yves Duteil evokes empathy of a passer-by for the prisoners of La Santé in his song ''Le mur de la prison d'en face'' (The prison wall opposite). * For the episode Broken Wing Television Series ''Leverage''. Season Five Episode Eight "The Broken Wing Job." (9 Sep. 2012) of U.S. television drama ' Leverage', Parker served an unknown amount of time in La Sante. Afterwards, she declared that the best meal she ever ate was in that prison and that she didn't serve as long as they thought she would there. *The novel "A Cold Death" by Michael Mandaville uses La Santé Prison to show the attempted assassination of Maurice Papon. *In Georges Simenon's Maigret series novel "A Man's Head", La Sante Prison features greatly in the first chapter. *In '' Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?'', Lobelia Carlini was detained in La Santé for 1,000-year-long sentence. *La Sante is the subject of a 2016 episode in the Arte TV Series ''Architectures''. In this episode, the design and aesthetic values of the building are studied.

References

*Jacques Hillairet, ''Historical Dictionary of the Streets of Paris'',

Les Éditions de Minuit Les Éditions de Minuit (, ''Midnight Press'') is a French publishing house. It was founded in 1941, during the French Resistance of World War II, and is still publishing books today. History Les Éditions de Minuit was founded by writer and ...

, 1985, , Vol. 2, p. 503

External links

La Santé - Etablissement pénitentiaire - maison d'arrêt
- Ministry of France {{DEFAULTSORT:La Sante Prison 1867 establishments in France Buildings and structures completed in 1867 Buildings and structures in the 14th arrondissement of Paris Prisons in Paris Execution sites in France