30 
has taken. place therein since the year 
4729, we recommend, that if fees are 
te be continued, it should be submitted 
to the Court of Lord Mayor and Alder- 
men, 1 whom the power rests of making 
any alteration in the said fees, to take 
the same into their consideration, and 
te make such alterations as they may 
think proper, consistent with the times, 
and the situation of the parties who are 
to pay them; and we, your Sub-cum- 
mittee, having been informed that. by 
an order of the Court of Aldermen, the 
number of prisoners confined in Newgate 
and the Compters, together with the 
state of those prisons certified by the 
surgeon, is laid before that Court at every 
meeting, upon enquiry we found, that 
any prisoners who may be detained for 
not having paid their fees are not in- 
eluded, but which, we are of opinion, 
eught always to be done, and especially 
named. 
That having also viewed Giltspur-street 
Compter and Ludgate prison, we were 
attended by Mr. John Teague, the keeper, 
and we observed that Guiltspur-street 
Compter was every way calculated fur 
the purposes for which it was originally 
erected, and that the prisoners confined 
there are much better accommodated 
- than in any other prison within the city; 
and the only thing complained of was 
the amount of fees paid by the debtors, 
which, upon enquiry, we find 1s regulated 
by the Judges and the Magistrates at 
the Sessions, and no alteration has been 
made in them for some time past; but 
we, your Sub-committee, have to state, 
that in consequence of the Act of Par- 
lament which passed so long ago as the 
year 1804, for removing the debtors from 
the Poultry Compter, on account of its 
then decayed and dangerous condition 
to the Giltspur-street Compter, that 
prison is occasionally so crowded that 
great danger is to. be apprehended ta 
the health of the same, particularly in 
hot weather, notwithstanding the nume- 
revs conventences which it possesses. 
And with respect to the Ludgate prison, 
we, your Sub-committee, have to ob- 
serve, that the space is much too con- 
fined for the number of prisoners usually 
there; andif the Corporation should not 
think fit to erect a new prison for the 
exclusive confinement of debtors, we are 
of opinion that inconvenience may be 
partially remedied by the removal of 
pert of the wall which separates this 
prison from that part of the Giltspur- 
street Compter where some of the cells 
“ 
Report on the Improvements of the City Prisons. 
fAug. 1, 
are placed, and which have not been 
used for a long time past. 
That on viewing the Poultry Compter, 
attended by Mr. Edward Kirby, the 
keeper, we found the said compter in a 
most deplorable and ruinous condition, 
and by no means a fit piace for the con- 
finement of prisoners of any description. 
The several persons committed to take 
their trial are here confined till the goal 
delivery at the time of each sessions; 
and the keeper stated, that at the las¢ 
September Sessions, there were fifty felons 
confined there. The whole of the night 
charges of the city are brought to this 
cumpter, as well as all vagrants, (Gilt- 
spur-street Compter being at this time 
appropriated for the confinement of the 
whole of the debtors belonging to the 
two compters) and whatever may be the 
cause of their confinement they cannot 
be separated from the felons, there being 
one yard only to the whole prison, in 
which men, women, and children of all 
descriptions confined there, are compelled. 
to be together; the rooms appropriated, 
to the vagrants, and persons to be passed 
to their different parishes, are not glazed, 
the windows being open with iron bars. 
only, nor have they any thing to protect 
them from the weather, or in eases of 
sickness for their comfort, but what the 
humanity of the keeper provides for 
them; and it frequently occurs, particu- 
cularly after an expedition has sailed, 
that a number of soldiers’ wives and chil- 
dren are there placed till they can be 
properly removed, and some of them in: 
a very ill state of health from fatigue or 
otherwise; and it has happened that 
some of, them have been so far advanced 
in pregnancy, as to be confined and de- 
livered in that compter. No divine ser= 
vice has been performed ia that compter 
for the last five years, and the chapel is 
now converted into a sleeping-place for 
felons. Irons are put on all prisoners 
committed for trial, and are never taken 
off till sent to Newgate, unless directed 
by the surgeon; there is no regular table 
of fees at this compter, and they are re- 
gulated by eustom only; that the keeper 
frequently remits the fees, and no person 
is detained for the non-payment of them. 
Under all the circumstances, we are de- 
cidedly of opinion, that the present Pouls 
try Compter is not at all calculated for 
the confinement of prisoners, nor from 
its present ruinous state can the same be 
rendered fit for that purpose. And we 
are further of opinion, that from the 
present state of the buildings in the vici- 
Bity 
