So should we worry about the oubliettes and why there aren't so many in the world. First of all, what is an oubliette?
According to Vocabulary.com, it is a form of dungeon that is "...very well constructed from the captor's point of view...the only entrance and exit being in the ceiling far above where the
prisoner stands, escape is pretty much impossible." (Vocabulary 2013)
For the children of the eighties, you may have been introduced to the concept of an oubliette through Jim Henson's Labyrinth, where our heroine falls through a well of hands and is asked if she wants to go up or down. She chooses down and ends up in an oubliette at the 3 minute stage in the video below..
So creating an oubliette must have been a nightmare for both the builder and possibly the interior painter but a cinch for the architect. Imagine the profile of a brandy glass without the stem and other
versions surely exist. Here is one image courtesy of Google Search:
How do you get a prisoner in there without injuring them, how do you get them out of there once the term of imprisonment has expired. I guess if the prisoner has expired before the time of imprisonment has completed, the body is left to rot to add to the overall environment.
What would the Third Geneva Convention of 1929 and updated in 1949 (relative to the treatment of prisoners of war) have to say on the construction of oubliettes and their use during periods of war. According to Wikipedia's summary of Part II, articles 12 & 13 to 16:
"Article 12 states that prisoners of war are the responsibility of the
state, not the persons who capture them, and that they may not be
transferred to a state that is not party to the Convention. Articles 13 to 16 state that prisoners of war must be treated
humanely without any adverse discrimination and that their medical needs
must be met." (Wikipedia 2013)
Articles 25 to 28 of Part III of the Third Geneva Convention deals with the quarters of the prisoners. Article 25 states:
"Prisoners of war shall be quartered under
conditions as favourable as those for the forces of the Detaining Power
who are billeted in the same area. The said conditions shall make
allowance for the habits and customs of the prisoners and shall in no
case be prejudicial to their health." (ICRC 2013)
So I guess that is why there are less oubliettes created now after the introduction of the Geneva Convention.
It could be said that the smell of decaying flesh may lead to tunneling
animals to dig through the oubliette's structure that could lead to
escape for subsequent prisoners who have not expired.
This video below shows a Saxon oubliette under Courts of Justice in Nottingham which is really quite well conserved:
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949. 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.icrc.org/ihl/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e63bb/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68. [Accessed 04 June 2013].
oubliette - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com. 2013. oubliette - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/oubliette. [Accessed 04 June 2013].
Third Geneva Convention - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Third Geneva Convention - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Geneva_Convention. [Accessed 04 June 2013].
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