diff -rauN a/shapely/_buildcfg.py b/shapely/_buildcfg.py
--- a/shapely/_buildcfg.py	2018-07-18 22:12:15.000000000 +0200
+++ b/shapely/_buildcfg.py	2019-10-31 17:08:46.860770741 +0100
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@
     if not lgeos:
         lgeos = load_dll('geos_c',
                          fallbacks=['libgeos_c.so.1', 'libgeos_c.so'])
-    free = load_dll('c').free
+    free = load_dll('c', fallbacks=['/usr/lib/libc.so.6']).free
     free.argtypes = [c_void_p]
     free.restype = None
 
diff -rauN a/shapely/geos.py b/shapely/geos.py
--- a/shapely/geos.py	2018-07-18 22:12:15.000000000 +0200
+++ b/shapely/geos.py	2019-10-31 17:09:36.292815253 +0100
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
             os.path.join(sys.prefix, "lib", "libgeos_c.so"),
         ]
         _lgeos = load_dll('geos_c', fallbacks=alt_paths)
-    free = load_dll('c').free
+    free = load_dll('c', fallbacks=['/usr/lib/libc.so.6']).free
     free.argtypes = [c_void_p]
     free.restype = None
 
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
             ]
         _lgeos = load_dll('geos_c', fallbacks=alt_paths)
 
-    free = load_dll('c').free
+    free = load_dll('c', fallbacks=['/usr/lib/libc.so.6']).free
     free.argtypes = [c_void_p]
     free.restype = None