The prison was integrated into the existing defenses in 1573, the year of the occupation of Ménerbes - a village distinguished by its loyalty to the Pope - by 150 Protestant armed men. As this outrage against the Holy See could not go unpunished, a siege was put under the command of Henri d´Angoulême with around 15,000 cavalrymen and men on foot from Corsica and Italy. Despite this favorable balance of power for the pontificals, the siege lasted five years.

Ménerbes was surrounded by trenches, redoubts were placed every hundred paces and cannon batteries installed on the surrounding hills. Despite destructive cannonades, some with red-hot cannonballs that started fires, the prison remained intact. As the village ended up being deprived of drinking water, after tough negotiations, the Protestants surrendered on December 9, 1578.

Accessible by the rampart walk, the old prison consists of a housing with fireplace upstairs which is accessed by an outside staircase and a dungeon on the ground floor whose door is fitted with two large bolts. and a peephole fitted with an iron spider. Consolidation and repair work on the walls, as well as the creation of new openings, took place during the 17th century and was followed by a recent restoration in 2006.