Dinant prison

The Dinant prison, which dominates the Place d'Armes , is the first building in Belgium to be built on the cell model.

Surrounded by birds and linden trees, this prison was designed by Brussels architect Dumont . This vast complex, built between 1849 and 1851 by the contractor Nicolas Gaudinne and inaugurated in 1853, covers an area of 31 areas.

Originally it had a capacity of 42 cells and formed two separate quarters: one for men (33 cells), the other for women (9 cells). Built of brick and limestone, the prison adopts a Romanesque-Renaissance style that was once compared to the "Tudor" style. Its hexagonal panopticon is unique in Belgium .

The perimeter wall, punctuated by corner towers , is interrupted to the north by a monumental guardhouse flanked by two round towers and crowned by a stepped pediment.

With a capacity of 32 prisoners , Dinant is the smallest prison in Wallonia. It is a remand prison , but like all other remand prisons, it also houses some convicts. It is built on the Bentham model and the current regime is a closed regime.

Nine square meters is the area of the cells in the smallest and most overcrowded prison (60 prisoners) in Belgium.

Willem Vandenameele