sentences:  Prisoners would still be expected to sign a document on their release, promising not to talk about the Bastille or their time within it, but by the 1780s this agreement was frequently broken.Prisoners leaving the Bastille could be granted pensions on their release by the Crown, either as a form of compensation or as a way of ensuring future good behaviour – Voltaire was granted 1,200 livres a year, for example, while Latude received an annual pension of 400 livres.During the 18th century, the Bastille was extensively critiqued by French writers as a symbol of ministerial despotism; this criticism would ultimately result in reforms and plans for its abolition.