Salonica has been, due to its ethnic and religious diversity and multicultural and cosmopolitan structure, one of the examples of Ottoman pluralism in the Balkans. But the town came into prominence through its institutions as well. The political developments and quarrels from the late quarter of the 19th century onwards, especially, had an impact on social life and institutions. The political tensions and separatist movements brought different groups, leading a peaceful life until then, against each other while the criminals of certain groups were compelled to share the rooms in prisons with their opponents. This was especially the case for the Central Prison of Salonica. The Ottoman archival sources allow us to depict the general pattern and the mechanism of management of the prison. The archival documents inform us on the physical state of the building; the activities of construction and repair; the personnel, their wages, their appointment and their dismissal; captives and prisoners; the transfer and the release of the prisoners and the attempts of prison-breaking; and other problems and complaints. The documents about the prison of Salonica date back to the year 1851 and come to the 1912, when the town was lost by the Ottomans. The documents pertaining to the periods of intense political developments and contagious diseases are rather ample. The prison of Salonica has also been home to the non-Muslim prisoners and captives, those of Bulgarian and Greek in particular, and acted as a model for the leading prisons in Ottoman Balkans.