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France · Mettray

Mettray Penal Colony

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Verified
Aging · 5mo ago
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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

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How to send mail, money, and visit Mettray Penal Colony

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Photograph of Mettray Penal Colony

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • Château du Petit-Bois (Colonie de Mettray).png

    Photo by Clarey-Martineau via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie agricole de Mettray 1845.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie de Mettray - chapelle.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie de Mettray - école d'horticulture.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie de Mettray - école de natation.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie de Mettray - école préparatoire.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie de Mettray - écoles de gymnastique et des contre-maîtres.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Colonie de Mettray CP les sabotiers.jpg

    Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Capacity

—

Current population

—

Occupancy

—

Year opened

1839

Operational

Figures from official sources · verified 29 May 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Operator

—

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1839

Region

Mettray

Security level

—

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Notable inmates

  • Jean Genet
    Jean Genet
    1910–1986 · writer

    Jean Genet (; French: [ʒɑ̃ ʒənɛ]; (1910-12-19)19 December 1910 – (1986-04-15)15 April 1986) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

No public contact details available.

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

—
Insufficient data
We don't have enough public data on this facility to score it. Have something to add? Send us a correction.

Related facilities

All in France →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Data completeness

16%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Mettray Penal Colony. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/mettray-penal-colony
Chicago
"Mettray Penal Colony." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/mettray-penal-colony.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-mettray-penal-colony,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Mettray Penal Colony},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/mettray-penal-colony},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}