The student prison was established in the 1780s and was in operation until 1914. Today it is one of the most popular sights of Heidelberg.

From 1823 to 1914 students were incarcerated for such transgressions as night-time carousing or other offences against the public order. The university enjoyed autonomous jurisdiction over students for its first five hundred years. Beginning in 1886, however, this right to render judgments against students was curtailed. Since then, the university’s jurisdiction has been limited to internal disciplinary matters.