Author: BENNET Henry Grey (Chairman?)
Title: Report from the Committee of the House of Commons on the King's Bench, Fleet, and Marshalsea Prisons, etc (No. XII, Pam, Vol. VI)
Description: London, House of Commons 1814 46pp (numbered 474-519 - this is an extract from the Pamphleteer) 21x13, sewn pamphlet Front page marked, edges rubbed and chipped, corners bumped with some creasing, otherwise surprisingly good for fragile item without covers. Survey of three of London's prisons, including the newly rebuilt Marshalsea. Conditions were poor and massively overcrowded, with management almost non-existent, with poorer and less experienced prisoners exploited by warders and fellow prisoners alike. Reforms are recommended. The Wardens of each prison were able to make substantial profits from the 'gaol fees' they charged the prisoners. Bennet was a Radical who repeatedly raised concerns about the state of these prisons and the abuses in them. It is not wholly clear if this Report was one that he was responsible for, but he promoted the establishment of this and a similar Committee in 1815 as part of a campaign against gaol fees, so it seems likely.

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