With the opening of the New Prisons Palace, the building became more than a place of detention. It also housed an important body of police and justice: the Lords of the Night.
This institution, active since the Middle Ages, was responsible for maintaining public order in Venice. Over time it was organized into six magistrates, one for each district of the city.
Their duties included making arrests, opening investigations and ordering imprisonment, often in close coordination with the Council of Ten.
Access to the New Prisons could result from arrest in the act, but also from denunciation. Written accusations could be submitted anonymously and were carefully examined.
One of the most famous cases linked to this system was that of Giacomo Casanova, arrested in 1755 following a denunciation and tried within these very walls.
