La Roquette

In Paris's 11th arrondissement, in the Quartier de La Roquette, two important penal institutions once stood on opposite sides of the Rue de la Roquette. The older of the two, known as the Petite Roquette, opened in 1830 and originally housed juvenile offenders. It was designed by the architect Louis-Hippolyte Lebas, who modeled the hexagonal building on the panopticon. The larger building across the street, the Grande Roquette, opened in 1836 and held mainly prisoners awaiting deportation to penal colonies, as well as those sentenced to death. While the second prison was under construction, protests against public executions led to the guillotine being moved. From 1851, however, the execution site was set up again at the Grande Roquette, where a total of 69 prisoners were executed through 1899, including several hostages during the Paris Commune of 1871.

After World War II, the story of the Petite Roquette took a different turn. Beginning in the 1920s, the building was converted into a women's prison, a role it kept until it closed in 1974. During this time it also served as a place of internment for women suspected of political activity and for foreign women, including well-known figures such as the actress Steffie Spira-Ruschin. Despite harsh conditions such as cold and inadequate sanitation, there was great solidarity among the political prisoners, expressed in the founding of a choir and a handwritten magazine. After the prison closed, the building was demolished. Today, the Square de la Roquette park stands on the site of the former Petite Roquette, with an old gatehouse serving as its entrance and recalling the site's earlier use.