Abstract
At the beginning of the 20th century, the central prison of Kayseri sanjak consisted of three parts: a women's detention center, a men's detention center, and a dîvân-ı harp prison. While there were prisoners and convicts for various crimes in the first two prisons, the dîvân-ı harp prison, which also constitutes our subject, was the places where political criminals were kept on trial at the Kayseri Dîvân-ı Harb-î Ordinary Court. Those in this prison were generally citizens of Armenian origin of the Ottoman Empire. Especially after the start of World War I, they were deceived by foreign countries and unsubstantiated propaganda and attempted to disrupt the social order in Kayseri as in many parts of the Ottoman Empire. However, thanks to the strict precautions taken by the government, those who were caught before they could carry out their actions and tried in the Kayseri Dîvân-ı Harb-î Ordinary Court and who were found guilty were thrown into the Kayseri Dîvân-ı Harp Prison.
In our study, the physical structure of Kayseri Dîvân-ı Harp Prison, which constitutes a part of the central prison of Kayseri, who are the persons detained here, their ages, crimes and transfers, will be tried to explain the mentioned topics.