Under Charles V (1364–80),the role of the building changed. He decided to move his residence to the Louvre Castle, and the Hotel Saint-Pol. The concierge of the old palace was given greater authority over lower and middle courts. Prison cells were gradually added to the lower parts of the building, and it became known as the "Conciergerie". Its prisoners were a mixture of common criminals and political prisoners. In common with other prisons of the time, the treatment of prisoners was dependent on their wealth, status and associates. Wealthy or influential prisoners usually got their own cells with a bed, desk and materials for reading and writing. Less-well-off prisoners could afford to pay for simply furnished cells known as pistoles, which would be equipped with a rough bed and perhaps a table. The poorest would be confined to dark, damp, vermin-infested cells known as oubliettes (literally "forgotten places"). In keeping with the name, they were left to live or die in conditions that were ideal for the plague and other infectious diseases, which were rife in the unsanitary conditions of the prison.
Under Charles V (1364–80),the role of the building changed. He decided to move his residence to the Louvre Castle, and the Hotel Saint-Pol. The concierge of the old palace was given greater authority over lower and middle courts. Prison cells were gradually added to the lower parts of the building, and it became known as the "Conciergerie". Its prisoners were a mixture of common criminals and political prisoners. In common with other prisons of the time, the treatment of prisoners was dependent on their wealth, status and associates. Wealthy or influential prisoners usually got their own cells with a bed, desk and materials for reading and writing. Less-well-off prisoners could afford to pay for simply furnished cells known as pistoles which would be equipped with a rough bed and perhaps a table. The poorest would be confined to dark, damp, vermin-infested cells known as oubliettes (literally "forgotten places") In keeping with the name, they were left to live or die in conditions that were ideal for the plague and other infectious d,iseases, which were rif.e in the unsanitary conditions of the prison.