Bursa prison of the Ottoman Period

In the Ottoman Empire, with the reforms beginning as from the XVIII. th century and the rigts citizens obtained as a result of these reforms, some changes happened in the concepts of the crime and punishment. Probably the most important these changes is that the concept of prison became the place where the punishment would be suffered rather than being a place where the accused would get waited until they served a sentence.The period in which the criminals pay the penalty physically ended in Ottoman Empire after Europe. With the change in the concept of prison dungeons existing in the Ottoman Empire were changed into prison and in the states where there was no prison, prisons were started to be built. Along with the rebuilt buildings, some were activated using the renting system. The Bursa Prison as a building which we suppose that it was built around XIX. Century is a sample for this construction work. İt is known that there was a prison in Bursa before the new building was erected but that it wasn't sufficient to cover the requirements. Fort his reason the new building was started but it wasn't possible to be completed for a long time because of the financial problems. Also, the old prison building sustained its function some more time. The Bursa Prison is thought to be more densely populeted with regard to the number of prisoners and arrests and in a better condition in respect to the number of officers. İt is known that the prison was mentioned as the central city prison as well. İt was soon that there were prisoners from different nationalities among the prisoners and arrests and that those wanted to be transported to another prison from time to time. Likewise, some transports from other prisons to this prison were fulfilled. The fact that there were prisoners who were released before they completed their sentence prove that pardons were realised in some periods. İt is known that there was a section for women prisoners, however there wasn't a women guardian in charge of them. Lots of problems arose during and after the construction work of the prison. Those were mostly financial. Despite those the work was continued. Although we don't have any plans as to construction work of the prison using the outline drawing belonging to the Erikli Prison built around the some date, the building is thought to be double storey.