Grand Châtelet

[2] The court of the Châtelet was always subordinate to the Parlement of Paris, but it had extensive criminal and civil jurisdiction, and treason cases were frequently tried there.

"The roadway which passed under the Chatelet (in effect the continuation of the Rue Saint-Denis) set apart the municipal prison on the eastern side of the structure from the various magisterial chambers to the west.

"[5] Under the western side lay the city morgue; the prisons on the eastern side increased in number from nine to twenty over the years, ranging from dormitories where prisoners lived "à la pistole", that is with beds, to those called "au secret", ranging from a huge hall with straw mats to subterranean dungeons.

[6]Like all edifices in the Old Regime connected with the administration of justice, the Châtelet enjoyed a very sinister reputation, even worse than the storied Bastille.

The area around the Châtelet was physically unpleasant as well, due to the smell of drying blood from nearby slaughterhouses and "the effluent of the great sewers that oozed into the Seine between the Pont Notre-Dame and the Pont-au-Change.