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Source Prison Report
1808 Inspectors General report on general state of prisons of Ireland, 1807 p.3 City

David M'Cullogh - - - Keeper.

A new building not quite finished ; a shamefully built Prison and a scandalous City job. Although the Gaol is inhabited only three years, its interior exhibits the appearance of a ruin.

— 26 Debtors were in custody, January the 1st, 1808.

1808 Inspectors General report on general state of prisons of Ireland, 1807 p.3 Four Courts
  • Isaac Dejoncour, Esq. ----- Local Inspector.
  • Henry Ormsby, Esq.. ----- Marshal.

THIS Prison is in a ruinous state; it is too small, is always dirty, and the perpetual squabbles between the Prisoners and Marshal on this subject are unavailing. Debtors are the most refractory order of Prisoners; their rooms, staircases and lobbies are generally very filthy; doubtless some are cleaner than others, but each Prisoner observes just as much cleanliness as he pleases, and the exceptions to general dirtiness are very sew. One would imagine that Debtors presumed on not being Criminals, I cannot otherwise account for their general non-compliance with regulations that are, for the mod part, intended for their comfort and convenience. The continual operation of the Maintenance Act, passed in 1797 by the Irish Parliament, prevents this Gaol from being as much crowded as was common before that salutary law had been enacted ; the number of Prisoners is generally from 120 to 200. The_ sale of liquors is not allowed by law in this Prison, notwithstanding large quantities of spirituous liquors are smuggled into it by the Prisoners’ friends ; a cause of riots and other gross irregularities. The Prison being so inadequate to the numbers confined, does not afford an apartment for the restraint of refractory Prisoners. A maniac who died lately here, and whose distmper was aggravated by the seosss and jeds of seme Prisoners, caused much disorder and complaint. He being under execution, could not be removed to a receptacle for lunatics, and his friends, though opulent, would not pay his debt. A new Prison on a large scale, in some part of the city convenient to the law courts, is greatly wanted.

—Number of Debtors in confinement here were 164, on January 1st, 1808.

1809 Commission of Inquiry into Condition and Government of State Prisons and Gaols in Ireland Report pp.13-20,24; Appendix 3 (pp.65-92); Plate V (after page 142) Four Courts
1809 Commission of Inquiry into Condition and Government of State Prisons and Gaols in Ireland Report p.25; Appendix 5 (pp.96-97);
1809 Commission of Inquiry into Condition and Government of State Prisons and Gaols in Ireland Report p.29; Appendix 7 (pp.99-100) St Sepulchre.

This is the Prison of the Manor Court of the Liberty of St. Sepulchre, which is ^ marshaisf-W. ^ an appendage of the Archiepiscopal See of Dublin, and to this Prison debtors resident within the Manor are committed under writs (whether on mesne process or execution) issued out of said Court.

The Prison is situated at Harold’s Cross, about a quarter of a mile from Dublin,, and consists of the two garret rooms of an ale-house. In one of these a poor man has been confined these ten months past; in the other a woman, (with her child) who had been committed the day before we visited the Prison. The rooms were clean, but the prisoners seemed quite destitute and forlorn. There is no stated gaol allowance, nor any regular fund for providing fire or candle. They are charged zzz shillings per week for their room and bed ; the fees are zzz on committal, and the lame on discharge. There is no yard or place where the prisoners can have the benefit of walking in the open air.

1809 Commission of Inquiry into Condition and Government of State Prisons and Gaols in Ireland Report p.29; Appendix 7 (pp.99-100) Thomas Court and Donore

This is the Prison of the Manor Court of the Liberties of Thomas Court and Donore, on the suppression of the Abbey of Sc. Thomas. All the rights of the Abbot were transferred, by Letters Patent of King Henry VIII. to one of the ancestors of •the Earl of Meatlh and the Lordship of the Manor of Donore has been since veiled in the fame family. To this Prison are committed debtors resident within the Manor •under writs (whether on mesne process or execution) issue'd out of said Court. This Prison was lately a private dwelling-house, and has been rented by the Earl of Meath as a temporary place of confinement, till a proper Prison shall be erected for -the purpose. The two upper rooms of the house alone are appropriated to this purpose; between these and the kitchen (in which alone any fire is provided, and which is considered as the common hall of the Prison) two stories intervene ; the mode of communication is so extremely difficult and inconvenient, that this detached kitchen cannot by. any means be considered as a place to which the prisoners can have “ free access,” within 'the meaning of the 26th of Geo. III. When we visited the Prison, there was a male prisoner in one of the rooms, and a female in the other. This, like the Prison of the Manor Court of St. Sepulchre’s, is a retired Prison, much out of public view. The Inspector General of Prisons occasionally visits both (see his Report for the year 1797) and the present Seneschal of the Manor Rates, that he has visited ..every week since his appointment (except when occasionally absent from Dublin) though he does not consider such visits as a necessary branch of his duty. There is no Rated allowance for provisions for the indigent prisoners confined in this Gaol; but it appears on the evidence of the Seneschal, that in general a distribution of bread to the amount of zzz per week to each is made, which is a casual supply arising from the seizure of bread deficient in weight by the Market Jury of the Manor. There is no yard belonging to this Prison, in which the prisoners can have the benefit of exercise in the open air.

Observations.

It appears from the foregoing Report, that this is a mere temporary Prison, rented by the Earl of Meath as Lord of the Manor of Thomas Court and Donore. There does not appear to be any regular fund for repairs, nor any legal obligation upon his Lordship to erect or provide a more adequate and permanent Gaol, save what may result from his being liable to actions for the escapes of prisoners.

1828 Return of Number of Prisoners confined in Four Courts Marshalsea Prison in Dublin for Debt or Contempt Four Courts
1883 Administration, discipline and conditions of prisons: preliminary report
1884 Royal Commission on Administration, Discipline and Condition of Prisons in Ireland: reports, digest of evidence, appendices and minutes of evidence
1884 Administration, discipline and conditions of prisons in Ireland: second report
1810 Correspondence on State of Gaols in Ireland
1817 Accounts relating to Prisons in Dublin
1819 Accounts relating to Prisons in Dublin
1818 Account of Gaols, Houses of Correction and Penitentiaries in Ireland, 1818
1820 Inspectors General: extracts from reports on general state of prisons of Ireland, 1815-20
1821 Return of Gaol Fees in Prisons of City of Dublin, 1818-20
1823 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 1st
1826-7 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 5th
1831-2 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 10th
1836 appendix to fourteenth report on general state of prisons of Ireland
1837 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 15th
1842 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 20th
1847 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 25th
1852 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 30th
1857 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 35th
1862 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 40th
1867 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 45th
1872 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 50th
1877 Inspectors General: report on general state of prisons of Ireland 55th
1876 Inspectors General: appendix to fifty-fourth report on general state of prisons of Ireland, Separate Reports on County and City Gaols and Bridewells
1873 Return of Officers of Four Courts Marshalsea, Dublin; Number of Prisoners, July 1871-73
1849 Bill to abolish Gaol of Newgate in City of Dublin, and provide Compensation for Officers; to enable Grand Jury of City to increase Salaries of Chaplains of other Gaols and to re-assess Arrears of Grand Jury Cess
1856 Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland: annual report, 1855 2nd
1855 Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland: annual report, 1st
1863 Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland: annual report, 10th
1873 Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland: annual report, 20th
1878 General Prisons Board (Ireland): report, 1st