The progressive cloaking of the public executions in France circa 19th-20th century, to their performance behind prison walls, is a phenomenon which informe us upon the very nature of the civilization process. The “depublicization” of the executionnary ritual goes through the reduction of its pomp, of its duration, and its capture by prison sphere. Entangled in the hygienic politics of the streets, guillotine seems giving a “dirty” death which leads to violence and should be moved out of sight. This “formalization” reveals both the withdrawal by the power of a political technology now seen as inefficient, and the rise of sensibilities hostile to bloodshed in the public sphere.