Guarding the Revolutionary Carceral System

Abstract During the upheaval of the French Revolution, the place of prisons in French society fluctuated. After the 1791 Penal Code, they were spaces where judicial sentences were carried out. Yet as growing numbers of “suspects” were arrested, prisons also became spaces of political repression. The prison concierge (the primary jailer) oversaw these spaces and was responsible for the daily running and guarding of potentially hundreds of prisoners. This meant concierges were integral to revolutionary justice systems. However, the concierge was a complex position to hold. Many continued in their roles from the ancien régime, but as more prisons were opened in Paris, new jailers increasingly became political hires. Studying prison concierges illuminates to what degree, and through what methods, incarceration was systematized during the Year II, while still attending to the individuals tasked with administering and guarding these spaces. Through the figure of the concierge, one can begin to see how authorities used carceral institutions to produce social and political order in a time of revolution.