Prison Pont l'Eveque, located rue Eugène-Pian, prison is a building created in the early nineteenth and closed in the 1950s, after a judicial scandal . She was left unchanged for over 50 years before the town of Pont l'Eveque is the idea of heritage. This valuation of assets prison one of the few in France, is particularly successful.
From the old to the new prison Pont l'Eveque
The old prison of Pont l'Eveque was in a part of the house of a certain Sieur Labbey. She greeted the men and women who were separated at night. The different categories of prisoners were not separated. She could receive but 76 detainees were often overcrowded: there were 90 people some months. 900 people a year there was locked. It contained neither yards nor sick and did not offer the opportunity to work.
face of this prison that was neither safe nor clean, it was decided to create a new prison in a hurry. We thought at first to re-use of wood-framed buildings of the city but the fire risk was too high. It was then decided to create a new building. The reconstruction of the prison and the court was adopted by the Decree of 25 May 1811. Projects and plans should be submitted before 1 st September 1812.
Work began in 1813 under the direction of architects Harou-Romain, father and son. They ended in 1823 to prison in 1828 for the court.
The prison building was built by philanthropic concerns of the time. The prison had a rectangular plan and a symmetrical organization with its center skylight. There were four cells in each dormitory 2 floors that were symmetric parts of 25 m² with barred windows, which were separated from men, women, defendants and convicts. It was also the office of counsel, the parlor, hallways, stairs, metal housing of the head guard in a U-turn projection and a chapel at 1 st floor and a kitchen in the basement. A court in two separate prison surrounded on three sides, the whole being enclosed by a wall.
Regarding his style, the architects gave the prison a beautiful multicolored appearance thanks to the combination of various materials (chert, white stone, brick red).
There were 14 inmates in the early years, while that number increased to one hundred in 1897.
It was built on the site the former Dominican convent closed in 1792 and he remains only a beautiful building with wood sides (see below).
The construction of the prison Pont l'Eveque in 1823 is the starting point of a government's desire to reform the French prison system. In this it is one of the last testimony of the prison as it is still preserved under the ancien regime but which we feel dawn's initial thoughts of what will become two decades later (individual cells, centralized control, hundreds of inmates ... ). The prison became thus an essential link in the history of the French prison architecture.
The scandal of "Joyeuse prison"
Prison Pont l'Eveque was nicknamed the "Merry prison" by the press after the strange events that took place in 1950. Indeed, at that time, the prison had become a kind of folk pension under the direction of a warden, Fernand Billa, who preferred to be loved by its inmates rather than being feared. The prisoners were using the phone freely, kept accounts, received girlfriends and wives, and feasts were offered temporary day or night, self-issued certificates of good character. Each morning, one of them went the cafe opposite. Another even repaired alarms from prison and re-power the police station!
These events were discovered in 1951 after the arrest of public enemy No. 1 at the time, "said Rene Girier" Rene la Canne "(since ' he had become lame after an arrest turbulent), which had just escaped from prison in Pont l'Eveque. Indeed, the bandit specializing in breaks of safes and armored vehicles, famous for having committed theft of 65 million francs to the jeweler Van Cleef and Arpels and the heist of the safe from the Chairman Edouard Daladier, was imprisoned in the prison of Pont l'Eveque in March 1949 after burglary a jewelry Deauville. Good friend with the warden and the prison door wide open, Rene Girier escaped from the prison by sawing through the bars and climbing the wall. His escape and his arrest brought to light the malfunction of the prison, then nicknamed the "Merry prison" by the press, and created a huge scandal that court was held in October 1955 by Court of Assizes of Calvados. It stated a general acquittal to inmates, while the prison was convicted. The warden was dismissed for negligence.
This story was told in the cinema in the film by André Berthomieu titled "The Happy prison" with Darry Cowl (in the role of the lawyer ) and Michel Simon (in the role of warden) in 1956.
From abandonment to patrimonialization
After this judicial scandal, prison, which had become dilapidated over the years and unhealthy, was finally closed in 1953. The owner, the state did nothing of the building remained abandoned for several decades. External works, the course and the wall were destroyed.
It began to show interest in the late 1990s. The prison was built in neoclassical style in the early nineteenth century and all these interior preserved since the closure of the place were registered under the Historic Monuments December 5, 1997. The prison is indeed an exceptional testimony to the revival of the nineteenth century prison architecture. The court, built at the same time, representative of the vast building campaign launched at the time of the Restoration was also partially registered under the Historic Monuments on the same day (facades, roofs, hallway, staircase and its cage, and his courtroom scene).
After this recognition of the heritage value of the prison and its legal protection by registration under the Historic Monuments, the town of Pont l'Eveque decided to showcase its heritage prison.
She first bought the building that still belonged to the state in 2005, then she has entrusted the management of Dominican cultural space, opened in 2000, situated near the prison in the former convent of the same name.
The prison was opened to the public during Heritage Days in 2006 and was a great success. Since then, the prison is open to the public at each Heritage Days, but also many days in July-August, and every first Saturday of each month. Reservations are required. Guided tours of 1 hour, limited to 15 people for safety, are proposed to discover all this strange place, remained in its original condition. "It feels like a prisoner just released. Such a prison building that can be visited, it is counted on the fingers of one hand! "Said Pierre Sécheret in 2008, then deputy mayor of Pont l'Eveque in charge of culture.
To better showcase the monument, the city has restored the exterior of the prison from September 2008 to June 2009. After 10 months of work by an architectural firm specializing in the restoration of historic monuments (Medrea, and Iung FERAUGE), the building has regained its original appearance fronts and its roof, according to records kept in archives.
This work consisted of the renovation of the roof with slates imported from Canada, the coating on the facing brick (mortar and lime plaster tinted by natural pigments color brick) and finishes (8.5 km white lines between the bricks). Everything was as certified by the Historical Monuments and has cost over 500 000 €.
The court, located next to the prison, which also seems to be visited along the building prisons, will soon host the music school of intermunicipal Blangy Pont l'Eveque. This place seems ideal as it is compartmentalized around the courtroom who would become the main hearing room. Since summer 2010, the court, who belonged to the General Council of Calvados, was acquired by intercommunal. Work will be undertaken to host the music school.
The court of Pont l'Eveque: courtroom (source: bpicom.fr)
a heritage from the prison of Pont-l ' Bishop is a development of very successful prison heritage: the place has remained in its original state, it can be visited all through guided tours offered regularly, and it is restored. This rare case of valuation of assets prison in France should serve as an example.
Sources:
www.pontleveque.fr
www.blangy-pontleveque.com
bpicom.fr (inter Blangy Pont l'Eveque)
espacelesdominicaines.over -blog.com
www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/inventai/patrimoine/
www.ouest-france.fr
mfi-architectes.fr
article de Françoise Dutour and Gaëtane Barbenchon "Prison Pont l'Eveque (http://sd-1.archive-host.com/membres/up/663223213/prison.pdf)
article by Jean-Claude Vimont "Pont l'Eveque, prison philanthropists" on Criminocorpus (http://www .criminocorpus.cnrs.fr/article462.html)
0 comments:
Post a Comment