Titre
The Materiality of Prisons and Revolution: The Helvetic Republic between State Control and Local Circumstances
Type
article
Institution
UNIL/CHUV/Unisanté + institutions partenaires
Périodique
xviii.ch. Revue suisse d’études sur le XVIIIe siècle/Schweizerische Zeitschrift für die Erforschung des 18. Jahrhunderts
Auteur(s)
Dahn-Singh, Nathalie
Auteure/Auteur
Liens vers les personnes
Liens vers les unités
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2024
Volume
15
Première page
128
Dernière page/numéro d’article
143
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Langue
anglais
Résumé
In 1799, the new Penal Code of the Helvetic Republic, modelled on the French Penal Code of 1791, made imprisonment a cornerstone of the penal system. Focusing in particular on the new canton of Léman (modern-day Vaud), this article explores the materiality of prisons at a time when Helvetic jails had to cope with an increasing number of inmates. The article offers a qualitative analysis of the responses to an inquiry launched by the Minister of Justice and Police, Franz Bernard Meyer von Schauensee, in June 1799. The analysis reveals a gap between penal reform and prison realities: regularly invoked as an ideal to strive towards, the challenges of ensuring inmate health and hygiene quickly gave way to security and economic considerations, while necessary prison repairs created tensions between actors at different levels.
PID Serval
serval:BIB_3984E8AB3CF0
Date de création
2025-03-11T08:30:14.147Z
Date de création dans IRIS
2025-05-20T20:42:28Z