Prison H15 History
The derelict Prison H15 in France. I understand that The abbey and the church that once stood on the site of this huge prison, were built in 1203. The Abbey forms what was later used as the detention centre often referred to as the ‘womens’ side of the prison. I’m not clear on when the Prison itself was built but it closed in 2011 where it has since been left abandoned. Decay really taking its toll here potentially sped up by the large amount of attention it has received from metal thieves. The site has also become a favourite of graffiti artists with art and tags on almost every surface. It is shocking to see the different from photos early in 2013 to the ones now and to see how quickly the place has deteriorated.
In early 2013 with joint agreement of the land owners and the prison administration, a Roma camp was established in the main carpark which quickly grew to 100 persons and multiple caravans and portable toilets. Later this number was reported to rise to 250 people at the camp which I believe remains to this day despite receiving some local criticism it appears that the camp will remain during the early stages of the demolition which was originally due to start in late 2014 but has been rescheduled for 2016.
Our Visit
Visited with Baron Scotland, Lowri, Dystopia, Annelieke and Michel. Absolutely loved this place. We only had about an hour and a half here so it was a mad dash to try and cover as much of this massive site as we could! It was a shame to see how the place is suffering but it really reminded me like the prison from the walking dead, perhaps bigger in its footprint! The maximum security cells were one of the highlights along with the large dome in the middle of the complex. We didn’t manage to access the detention centre side as there were firearms training going on so we decided to stay away. This did however make for an interesting sound track whilst wondering around 🙂 oh and by the way… Climbing the 6m high walls wasn’t fun :D.
Before you check out the photos here is a little video I made with some GoPro footage from our 2 trips to this awesome prison:
More from the prison:
January 2014 H15 Prison revisit Part 1
January 2014 H15 Prison revisit Part 2
March 2014 H15 Prison Revisit 2
Others from the 3 Men and a little lady European Tour:
Château Gramophone November 2013
Tapioca Farm House November 2013
Schola CLXXV Monastery Belgium November 2013
La Bobbin Belgium November 2013
If you’ve made it this far… thanks for reading / checking out the pictures. Leave me a comment below or hit the like button to let me know you’ve enjoyed the shots and to encourage me to keep posting more 🙂
Canvas prints and regular prints are available for all of the images above just ask me about prices.
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your work is terrific. i would love to know what settings you used for most of the prison shots. truly amazing work. thanks!
Thank you very much for your comment John, I’d be happy to have a chat with you at greater length about settings and my processing techniques if you would like?
regards
PM
Nice report and great pics. Looking forward to seeing this place 🙂
How much fun is it!!! lol 🙂
PM