Cherche-Midi prison

Construction on the prison began in 1847, when the former convent of the Daughters of the Good Shepherd was demolished on Rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris.

The prison population consisted of military personnel convicted of crimes by military tribunal, draft dodgers, deserters and occasional political prisoners.

Prisoners were not permitted to talk to each other during the day and were kept isolated in their cells at night.

The dilapidated prison was razed in 1966, and in 1968 the École des hautes études en sciences sociales opened on the site of the former prison.

Famous detainees at the prison include Adolphe Feder, Kurt Gerstein, Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves, Alfred Dreyfus, and Agnès Humbert, and Rudolf von Ribbentrop.