La Santé Prison

La Santé Prison occupies a full city block in the fourteenth arrondissement, defined by high, windowless stone walls that drop straight to the sidewalk. Completed in eighteen sixty-seven, it replaced the old Madelonnettes prison to consolidate the city's penal system. Inside, the design follows a radial plan meant to isolate prisoners completely. In eighteen ninety-nine, a prisoner named Albert Soleilland escaped by literally sawing through the iron bars of his cell window, a feat that forced the administration to overhaul their entire security protocol.