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19th-century revolutionary fighters left few traces in the form of graffiti. Their markings are mostly concentrated in the places where the defeated were detained in the aftermath of the uprisings. The article proposes both a historiographical reflection on how to interpret these forms political graffiti—which have recently been classified as part of France’s cultural heritage—and a field survey on two graffiti sites of the Second Republic: the Château d’If and the Crest Tower (in the Drôme region). It outlines a pragmatic approach to protest writing. The graffiti studied transform prison space and time; they affirm both individual and collective identities, against the backdrop of a shared experience of hardship; they subvert disciplinary norms while respecting a grey area of negotiated tolerance.