Carnet de Voyage: Sentenced Without Parole 

Travel notes from the real France. Carnet de Voyage is a weekly personal travel story in France sent in by readers. If you’d like to write a story for Carnet de Voyage, head here for details on how to submit.

I never imagined that the chance of a night of incarceration would be a choice I would make! And yet here we were, my husband and I, pushing the heavy steel gates aside to leave behind the outside world. Once through the enclosed courtyard we made our way across ancient flagstones and through a sliding door into a cocoon of warmth, soft lighting and tasteful decorations adorning the stone walls. 

Not quite the welcome “incarceration” normally entails you would say. The fabulous Hotel La Prison in Béziers has been open since 2023 after renovation of the Prison Malapague – Malapague meaning “mauvais payeur” (someone who does not pay their debts). This small prison with its origins in the XII century was reconstructed in 1857 on a plot right next to the cathedral to help relieve the over-crowding of the prisons in the Hérault at the time. Destined for only 48 inmates, but commonly housing more than 100, it became infamous in 1939 due to its possession of a guillotine. Nine prisoners were executed by guillotine here, the last as late as 1949. Interestingly the prison was still in use until quite recently and was only disaffected in 2009. 

After a smooth and high-tech check in, we made our way to our cell. The entrance from the reception area, which at one point would have been a common area, to the cell blocks is virtually unchanged and we were suddenly confronted with three levels of rows of cells surrounding a quadrangle area several floors below. The doors are very narrow with thick metal doors incorporating a peep hole still in place. The renovation is very clever; a bedroom takes up one cell and the adjoining cell has been converted into two ensuite bathrooms so that three cells become two rooms with ensuite bathrooms. The space has been retained so the room is small and the furniture sparse but tasteful and perfectly adequate. The bathrooms are as one would expect from a three-star hotel, modern and comfortable. I loved the fact that the floors and walls appear to be untouched – rough painted plaster and concrete floors with a simple rug. There are no extras in prison, no TV or minibar but the bedding is luxuriously comfortable and the rooms exude a not-at-all sinister calm. 

We only became aware of having fellow inmates at breakfast the next morning, which is served in the restaurant area with a fabulous panoramic 180° view over the river Orb and the Pont Vieux which is now purely a pedestrian bridge. Literally right next to the magnificent Saint Nazaire cathedral of Béziers which dominates the town, the position of the prison on the edge of an outcrop above the valley would have reinforced its security. 

It is the history of the establishment that enticed me to look for a sentencing and my imagination was richly stimulated as you walk through the building and admire the thickness of the walls and size of the stones. I would be happy to serve more time there with no chance of parole! 

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