For Arthur, who once worked for a long time at Scotland Yard, escorting prisoners to prison was nothing out of the ordinary, but being imprisoned himself was indeed a groundbreaking first.
In London, most untried suspects, especially those involved in civil offenses, are temporarily held in detention centers or cells at police stations until their case is heard in court, after which they are sent to debtor's prisons or criminal prisons based on the charges.
But France obviously doesn't make such distinctions. Since the French Government at this time had not clearly defined the difference between criminal and civil offenses, and in many provinces inland, they would not even detain debtors directly, most cities in France did not have institutions like detention centers.
Therefore, even if they needed to detain minor offenders, they could only lock them up together with the criminals in prison.
