The oldest known set of laws is the Code of Hammurabi, written by the King of Babylon in the 1750s. Its 282 laws regulated trade, property protection, and marital-family relations. There were also specific clauses for serious criminal offenses, acts against the state, and offenses against the gods. In almost all cases, various physical punishments were prescribed, up to the most brutal forms of execution. Remarkably, little changed from that time until the Middle Ages. Paradoxically, shifts toward humanism and human rights only emerged with the adoption of the prison system concept. However, the first centuries of its development were indeed a dark period.
Uninhabitable Places
Modern prisons, while far from cheerful, do adhere to standards and are designed for long-term human habitation. Prisons today have separate buildings for inmates, medical units, work areas, libraries, and recreation rooms. In the early Middle Ages, there were no specialized institutions of this type. Castles’ dungeons, city towers, and other places from which it was physically impossible to escape were used to keep people in captivity. Accordingly, there were no specialized prison staff. Guards were often regular soldiers or respected citizens of the town. Prisoners were held in dark, moldy, unsanitary conditions. Adding to this was irregular feeding with spoiled food, leading to weakened bodies unable to withstand disease. This was the main cause of death, often within months. Monks, punished by being placed in monastery dungeons, fared slightly better. Their chances of survival were higher as they were seen as fallen brothers by their overseers.
Torture
When thinking about medieval prisons, images of horrific tortures immediately come to mind. It’s worth noting that not all prisoners were subjected to such treatment. Executing someone in the most gruesome way didn’t require imprisonment. Such acts were done publicly and turned into spectacles. Petty thieves, murderers, and other common criminals often lost their health, and sometimes their lives, without any torture at all — mere exposure to the harsh prison conditions was enough. However, there were prisoners who were almost guaranteed to face brutal torture. This hasn’t changed much even in modern times. Political prisoners suffered the worst, as they were often tortured for confessions and information about accomplices. Similarly harsh treatment awaited heretics, apostates, and, of course, witches. However, it all depended on the place of imprisonment and the whims of city officials or jailers. Even minor offenders could fall into the hands of a true sadist. There were no human rights organizations or even human rights to speak of.
Human Commodity
The practice of selling prisoners into slavery was widespread across medieval Europe. Of course, certain categories of people were exempt, such as those of interest to the crown, a specific count, or a baron. This change in status mostly affected petty criminals, deserters, and beggars. There were no specific regulations or strict pricing policies. When a local dungeon could no longer accommodate “guests,” it made economic sense to sell a few prisoners. In fact, this prospect was often seen as a glimmer of hope in the dark world of imprisonment. The key was to maintain one’s “saleable condition” and preserve health during the first few months. Corruption often took root as a result. Guards might select the healthiest men to be sold, providing them with slightly better conditions, more food, and sparing them from torture or beatings for amusement. Both sides became mutually dependent. To make up for the leniency shown to future slaves, other prisoners faced even harsher conditions.
Special Prisons
The first actual prisons, built specifically to house criminals, began to appear in the 14th century. Certain standards were established as well. For example, the oubliette — a term derived from the French word oublier (“to forget”) — was a type of dungeon resembling a stone sack, located in a castle’s underground chamber. The convicted person would be thrown into a pit with sloped walls, making escape impossible. Often, the individual would suffer serious injuries, such as broken limbs, during the fall. Sunlight didn’t reach the bottom of the “well,” and thus no one outside the oubliette could hear the prisoner’s cries. This was how someone was sentenced to either a slow death by starvation or lifelong imprisonment. During the restoration of Leap Castle in Ireland, one such chamber was discovered. Among the numerous human remains, the body of a person wearing a wristwatch dated to 1840 was found. Imagine the sense of dissonance and the emotions this unfortunate individual must have felt. By that time, the Industrial Revolution was over, all the continents had been discovered, and the first railways had been built. Soon, the internal combustion engine would be invented, and sci-fi writers were dreaming of traveling to the moon. Yet, here you are, with fashionable, even innovative wristwatches, sent to a stone dungeon where you’d spend the next century and a half.
Mass Amnesties
On an individual basis, early release from prison could only be arranged through a deal with city authorities — essentially by paying a ransom. The prisoner had to compensate the wronged party as well as the cost of their stay in prison. After all, food was provided for the prisoner, and the jailers were not working for free. For political prisoners, the ransom could amount to everything they owned. The phrase “your life or your wallet” took on a very literal and all-encompassing meaning. It’s important to consider the norms of the Middle Ages — identical crimes against different social classes could have drastically different prices. For instance, killing or seriously injuring a working man was punished much more severely than the same crimes against a woman, unless she belonged to a noble family. The reasoning was simple: a man could work and serve, making him a valuable resource. A woman might be kind and beautiful, but her loss was seen as less significant.
The first large-scale and regular amnesties were introduced in Venice, where the Renaissance began. Humanistic principles, closely tied to religious ideas of forgiveness, were becoming fashionable. In late medieval Italian cities, charitable offerings to prisoners were common. These acts of goodwill were performed in honor of important holidays and served as reminders that a person could always atone for their sins and walk the right path. Dozens, sometimes hundreds, of prisoners were led to the main square, where they were declared free once more. Each one swore never to repeat their mistakes, thanked the good citizens of the city, the merciful ruler, and the Almighty. However, it was often required that the pardoned live far from large population centers — but any small village was preferable to a damp dungeon.
