Abstract

This article focuses on a Parisian charity that raised funds to release debt prisoners in the capital, liberating around 100 to 250 inmates each year from the 1730s to the 1780s. The ways in which charitable funds were used help us to understand the intentions of this charity to impact both the prisons and the capital. Its activities enable an investigation into the spiritual and temporal uses of charitable money and its relationship with the urban economy. Through its work, this charity succeeded in endowing charity money with special virtues, ensuring complete release of prisoners from the constraints of incarceration.