Prisons of Ancient Rome

The Prisons of Ancient Rome were for holding the accused prior to their Trial. They were not used as a place of Punishment like today.
Prisoners had no individual cells, but were chained together in different rooms.

The Mamertine Prison , also known as the Tullianum, was an underground prison, located adjacent to the Roman Law Courts in the Forum Romanum in Rome.
Prisoners of high standing were held here temporarily prior to their Trial, and if condemned to execution within the Mamertine Prison, it would be done by strangulation.
Today the Mamertine Prison lies under the two Churches of S. Guiseppe dei Falegnami (above) and S. Pietro in Carcere (below) which can be visited.

Adjacent to the Tulliarum were the Lautumiae, ex tufa quarries, which were used as dungeons for ordinary prisoners such as Slaves. Nearby were the Places of Execution.

The Porticus Argonautorum was a prison located in the Saepta Julia, a square within the Campus Martius in Rome.
It was built by Agrippa (64-12 BCE).

These were three Roman Officials who were given the responsibility for the Roman Citizens and Slaves admitted to the prisons. They administered the prisons and their guards.

These were public prisons in Italy and the Provinces, where prisoners were held whilst awaiting Trial.

The Ergastulum was a private Roman prison for Roman Slaves, consisting of a separate building located partly underground, on almost all large agricultural estates called Latifundia.
They were used to punish the Roman Slaves who worked on the Estate. The prisoners were held in chains but continued working, either in the building or in the fields. They were run by a trustworthy slave called the Ergastularius.
The Ergastula were eventually abolished by Hadrian (117-138 CE).