The former prison of Pont-l'Évêque was built in 1823 by the architect Harou Romain. It is a very rare example in France of a prison administration building preserved after its closure, the fate usually reserved being demolition or transformation.
The building was used for the incarceration of inmates from its commissioning at the end of the first quarter of the 19th century until its closure in 1953, following a scandal that splashed over the judicial institution and was the pretext for a popular comedy entitled La Joyeuse Prison in the same decade with the actor Michel Simon, and which immortalized the place. During the occupation, the former prison of Pont-l'Évêque served as a place of confinement for common law offences, but also as a place of transit for prisoners arrested by the German authority: resistance fighters, political prisoners, etc. After their passage in the prison of Pont-l'Évêque and their transfer to the prison of Caen, or other places today unknown, some prisoners will know a tragic destiny. After several decades of abandonment, the building was bought by the city of Pont-l'Évêque in the early 2000s; it is the subject of careful restoration and heritage considered successful, and particularly rare. At the beginning of the 21st century, the state of conservation of the building is a rare testimony to the renewal of prison architecture in the early 19th century. Today, the city of Pont-l'Évêque values this place by setting up guided tours, theatrical visits, thematic events or even opening to artistic practices. The former prison also serves as a filming location for movies or TV movies.