Once an integral part of the Court Castle, incorporated in the 17th century into the Borgia Palace, the prisons were completed in 1769. The rooms still hold the memory of a raw and intense past: the rigor cell, the women’s cell, and the men’s cells tell the stories of those who were locked up there.
Small openings used to pass food to inmates can be seen on the walls. The preservation of the original elements is striking: the metal-reinforced window frames with nailed bands, the stone slab floors, the wooden planks on which people slept, and the windows protected by triple bars. A narrow courtyard finally leads to the dreaded isolation cell.
Until the 17th century, the same courtyard was the scene of executions.
The register of deceased in the parish of St. Mary’s (now the Cathedral) documents, for the year 1638 alone, as many as 16 death sentences carried out at the hands of the executioner.
