Until modern times, the towers of Wiesbaden's city fortifications were used to house prisoners, including the Teschen Tower on the Heidenmauer, the tower of the city gate and the tower at the Niederpforte. This changed in the middle of the 18th century. Between 1764 and 1768, a building erected for the criminal court on Michelsberg housed the penitentiary and correction house. The building contained eleven cells in the basement with meter-thick partition and outer walls. The courtrooms were located on the second floor, with workrooms for the "prisoners" on the second. During their time in prison, the prisoners were made to work, which consisted of rough spinning and stocking weaving. Over the years, the prison on Michelsberg became increasingly dilapidated. A replacement was the district court prison in Albrechtstraße, which was handed over to the judicial authorities on 17.07.1875 and could accommodate 100 male and female prisoners. A work barrack was built in the courtyard for the male prisoners in 1875. In 1878, the tax authorities built a residential building with five apartments on Oranienstraße for the prison officers and their families. With its red brick façade and the brick wall surrounding the prison yard, the prison made a gloomy impression. Executions of those sentenced to death took place in the inner courtyard, the last one on January 4, 1887.

Many well-known Wiesbaden personalities were held in the prison cells during the Nazi era, such as the lawyer Hans Buttersack and the later Lord Mayor Georg Buch. The prison was used until February 1972, but in the end only for short-term detentions. Because it no longer corresponded to the ideas of a modern prison and a conversion was not possible, it was abandoned by the Hessian Ministry of Justice. It was demolished in 1995/96. A new prison was built on Holzstraße in 1959-63.