That they cruelly used them, shutting them up in close prisons when they found fault with their wicked dealings; not suffering them to come and go as they ought to do; with other abominable misdemeanours, which, without reformation, might be the poor prisoners' utter undoing." In consequence of this petition, a commission of inquiry into the alleged abuses was appointed; but little good was effected by it, for only seven years later further complaints were made against the warden, charging him with "murders and other grave misdemeanours." Still no redress was obtained; nor was it likely it would be, when the cries of the victims of this abominable system of oppression were so easily stifled.

The most arbitrary measures were resorted to by the officers of the prison, and carried out with perfect impunity.

Their authority was not to be disputed; and it has been shown how obedience was enforced.
Fines were inflicted and payment made compulsory, so that the wealthy prisoner was soon reduced to beggary.

Resistance to the will of the jailers, and refusal to submit to their exactions, were severely punished.

Loaded with fetters, and almost deprived of food, the miserable captive was locked up in a noisome subterranean dungeon; and, if he continued obstinate, was left to rot there.