Prisoner of war camps?

[Nathan Ross]

How did the Roman army secure prisoners taken in battle? Is there any evidence for Roman 'prisoner of war camps'? - what might they have looked like, if they existed?

Barbarian prisoners could have been sold as slaves, but what about those captured in civil war battles? They were citizens, so couldn't be enslaved - assuming they didn't want to change sides, what might the victors have done with them all?

[Renatus]

This has come up before, to some extent.

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/17-roman-mi...tml#356003

[PhilusEstilius]

A very good friend of mine the late Raymond Selkirk had an idea that with all of the Roman roads he was finding was that most of the work in the construction of these roads and indeed maybe other structures in local areas may well have been done by such prisoners, and when we look at the vast amount of marching camps in some areas were these not only used by troops on the move but also used to camp such groups of workers in some places.

[Nathan Ross]

This has come up before, to some extent.

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/17-roman-mi...tml#356003

Ah, so it has! I remembered the Vindolanda huts debate, but not the rest...! But yes, the Trajan's Column scene you mention there seems to imply fortificiations could be used to pen prisoners, as Brian suggested above.

Funnily enough, my question here was inspired by a novel I just read about the American Civil War, which described prison camps that seemed somewhat similar to Roman marching camps...