In Roman law confinement in jail as a means of containment of the prisoner to his subsequent trial and conviction, which coincides with situations in which the Roman legal system to exploit the defendant in sentencing in forced labor or in in metallum or in opus publicum. However, the jail met in Rome a suitable means preventive custody and not punishment, and the Roman law was never released on imprisonment as punishment for free men through judicial, as a result of a crime; therefore the prison was conceived as a means of police coercion or administrative judges, that is a security measure before trial by way of remand or awaiting execution. In this context, we will analyze how Roman law promulgates a series of norms aimed at dignifying the prison for the imprisoned, that is, the improvement in the treatment of prisoners due to the influence of Christianity to humanity as a recurring argument in the imperial legislation.The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners constitute the universally recognized minimum standards for the management of prisons and the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty and have had immense value and influence in the development of prison laws, policies and practices In Member States around the world, in 2015 it was promulgated under the name Mandela Rules. In this study, we will analyze how some of its principles are already beginning to be glimpsed in Roman law in relation to improvement of the conditions of the confinement´s place.