The castle was built in the early Middle Ages about 1100 C.E.  There was a jailhouse located in the interior courtyard.  The main building housed an interrogation chamber. Rough times for people who fell victim of the authorities. However, it has to be compared to the life at that time, which was tough, brutish and short for most people.

I asked myself:  how the discrepancy between life of the ordinary "free" person and the incarcerated would compare to contemporary life?

The Scared Straight program was already implemented: "The first degree of torture was the sight of the instruments. In the case of children or persons over the age of seventy, one did not go beyond that stage" (Foucault 1977 Discipline and Punish, p.40)

You can click on the pictures to get enlargements!