After six years of construction, the prison went into operation as "The Royal Prussian Penal, Learning, and Correctional Institution" (Königlich-Preußische Straf-, Lern- und Besserungsanstalt).

[1] In the First World War, from February to August 1917, Werner Scholem, a soldier and later member of the Reichstag in the KPD, was interned in Halle, having been sentenced to ten months in prison for joining an anti-war demonstration in uniform in January 1917.

At the request of physiologist Gotthilft von Studnitz [de], at least 35 prisoners' eyes were removed immediately after their death for research into night vision.

During the uprising of 1953, doctoral student Gerhard Schmidt [de] was shot dead by the police in front of the prison.

Since February 15, 1996, there has been a memorial for victims of political persecution from 1933 to 1945 and 1945–1989 in Roter Ochse, in the former Nazi execution building, which had been converted into an interrogation facility by the Stasi.