History
Its construction was launched after Louis XV of France, by an ordinance of 27 September 1748, transferred the (previously independent) galleys to the control of the French Navy, to allow him to provide crews for galleys cheaply. Galley prisoners were previously held on their galleys - now they would be housed in new prisons, such as that at Brest. On two levels divided into 4 large sections, the building could house 400-500 prisoners and was designed to house the police cheaply, prevent prisoners escaping and providing for prisoners' vital needs.
Its siting was controversial. Though many citizens of Brest wanted it to be built within the Arsenal enclosure, no site "below the cliff" provided enough room for such a construction or suitable for its sanitary needs (running water, ventilation, and so on). Finally built at Lannouron, on the left bank of the Penfeld, between the high corderie, barracks and hospital.
Closed in 1858 since its living conditions were ajudged to be too soft after reports from workers there and after baron Portal's report, its prisoners were moved to penitentiary colonies.
Read more about this topic: Brest Prison
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“There has never been in history another such culture as the Western civilization M a culture which has practiced the belief that the physical and social environment of man is subject to rational manipulation and that history is subject to the will and action of man; whereas central to the traditional cultures of the rivals of Western civilization, those of Africa and Asia, is a belief that it is environment that dominates man.”
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“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
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