BAGNES. The convict prisons of France. Serious crimes in France were, till 1748, pun ished by terms of service in the galleys. In that year these were abolished, and the convicts were employed in hard labor in arsenals and other public works, and the prisons in which they were lodged were called bagnes, from the Italian bag no, literally a bath—a name supposed to have originated in the fact that the slave-prisons at Constantinople contained baths, or because they stood near the baths of the seraglio. The Legis lative Assembly of 1791 and 1792 mitigated the sufferings of the convicts, and substituted, for the detested name gakres, that of traraux pub lics, to which succeeded the traramr forces of the Code Napoli on. The practice of branding crimi nals with a hot iron was not abolished until 1832. The latest existing institutions of this class were at Toulon, Brest, and Rochefort. The discipline of the bagnes was cruel. Men were always chained in couples, and released only after the most ex emplary behavior. Their fond was miserable,
and they were herded together at night like cattle. The labor of the convicts was turned to profitable account, and the various handicrafts were taught in the prison under the direction of overseers. The industrious and clever were en abled to earn small wages. Formerly the pun ishment of the galleys was inflicted for com paratively slight offenses, such as removing landmarks, begging, poaching; but hard labor in the bagnes was reserved exclusively for such as committed crimes which seriously menaced the public peace and personal safety. These prisons were abolished in I5512, and the convicts were gradually drafted of to French Guiana and New Caledonia. Toulon Prison was not emptied till 1870. To readers of Victor lingo's Les olio rabies the hagnes are of course familiar as the home, during many years, of the hero, Jean Val jean. Consult Zaceone, Histoire des bagncs (Paris, 1875).