Prisonnières - Les dernières années de la prison Saint-Lazare (1919-1932)

Médiathèque Françoise Sagan

Exhibition from September 17 to December 13, 2026 In the aftermath of the Great War, all Parisians knew the dark façade of the prison Saint-Lazare, in the faubourg Saint-Denis. Behind the dilapidated walls of this former convent, punishment and care were dispensed side by side. The only women's prison in Paris, it held more than a thousand inmates at times: women awaiting trial, those serving short sentences, prostitutes who had violated regulations, or women suffering from syphilis. The latter were treated in the special infirmary, a veritable prison-hospital. The fate of this institution, often compared to a plague at the heart of the capital, was decided in the 1920s, a decade marked by a repressive pro-natalist policy and anxiety over the "venereal peril." In 1932, the prison closed before being partially demolished. The infirmary, first converted into a health facility for prostitutes, now houses the médiathèque Françoise-Sagan. The exhibition seeks to make visible and tangible this history, of which the current site retains few traces. Through images, books, archives, and objects drawn from the collections of numerous institutions, the exhibition retraces the prison's final years. It begins with an outdoor itinerary on the square Alban Satragne, where large-format photographs allow visitors to discover the former prison within its urban surroundings. The visit continues inside the médiathèque, where the exhibition revisits the prison's last years, the many perspectives cast upon the prisoners and what they reveal about the condition of women at the time, as well as the faint traces the women themselves left behind: writings, graffiti, and imprints bearing witness to the lives of these shadows of history. Exhibition across two sites: the square Alban Satragne and the médiathèque Françoise Sagan This project was initiated by the association Histoire et vies du 10e, and supported by the Mairie du 10e arrondissement. A program of guided tours and events accompanies the exhibition Tours on the occasion of the Journées européennes du Patrimoine The performance "Maison noire," a spoken and sung reading by the Cirque du Dr Paradi A musical listening session on prison songs A lecture series, in partnership with the Comité d'Histoire de la Ville de Paris A symposium organized by the Centre d'Histoire du XIXe siècle

Source: Paris Open Data ↗