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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A42883 The Goalers [sic] extortion exposed, or, The Prisoners grievances most humbly offered and submitted to the consideration and regulation of both Houses of Parliament. 1690 (1690) Wing G904A; ESTC R42052 3,402 2

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THE Goalers Extortion Exposed OR THE Prisoners Grievances Most Humbly offered and Submitted to the Consideration and Regulation of both Houses of PARLIAMENT Licenc'd Octob. 8. 1690. J. F WHereas divers good and wholesome Laws have been made for the Regulation of Prisons which for several years last past have not been much regarded but buried so as never intended to be revived again to the great encouragement and encrease of Extortion of Fees Exaction of Chamber-Rent and many other outragious practices improper to be Countenanced or Conniv'd at in any good Government And as the Punishing of Vice is the Encrease of Virtue so the Reviving and putting the Laws in due Execution is the Right Administration of Justice and if Irregularities Extortions and such like Lawless Practices have crept in and be admitted or allow'd to be put in Execution in the Prisons in and about London in the hearing of the King and Queen and within a Call of the Four Courts of Justice then what must the Prisoners in the Country Goals expect but Ruine where the Law is like a Stream the further it flows from the Fountain Head the more Corrupt and the less pure it is THERE was an Act of Parliament made in the 22th and 23th of that Most Serene and never to be forgotten Prince King Charles the Second setting forth or prescribing a time for the two Lord Chief Justices and Lord Chief Barron to Establish a Table of Fees in General for all the Prisons in the Kingdom but that was Omitted and the time Elapsed which gave Goalers and Prison-keepers the opportunity to exceed much their bounds who by Ravishing Exorbitant Sums from the distressed and most unfortunate part of the Subjects or People of this Kingdom have thereby advanced themselves into vast Fortunes and Estates not leaving any thing of Pride Ambition or Corruption behind them that can or may be thought of in Order to build themselves upon the Ruines of the distressed so that whilst such Insolencies pass without curbing no Justice can be expected at the hands of Goalers in regard they are a sort of People that bear no respect to the Laws of Nature much less to the Laws of the Land and that Consider no Mans Quality Capacity or Poverty but let what Government soever be uppermost provided that a Goaler has Liberty to Tyrannize and Insult over his Fellow-Creature he is a Goaler still AS to the Fees of a Goal it 's but a single groat by the Statute-Law and that is called the Discharging Fees and how any Goaler in England can demand more is not resolved by any Act of Parliament in England and how Gaoaler can detain any Prisoner after obtaining a discharge for any more Fees then what 's granted by Act of Parliament is beyond any Mans reach to resolve neither can all the Judges of the Kingdom without Violating the Rights of Parliament Establish Fees except there be an Act of Parliament precedent to such an Establishment to Empower them so to do AND whereas Goalers do demand and receive Commitment Fees there has not been any such Fees ever Established by Act of Parliament the Laws of England being grounded upon Common Reason and therefore it 's against the Rules of Nature that a Man dreading a Prison should pay Fees for Imprisoning himself AS for Chamber-Rent let 's first Consider the Chambers the number of Beds in each Chamber and the Furniture of the Rooms and likewise consider the Conditions Misfortunes and Calamities that attend a Prisoner and that it is not the Wealth nor over-abundance of Fortune that ushers a Man into a Prison and therefore is it reasonable that any Person under dismal Circumstances shall be compelled to pay more in a Prison for Lodging then He or She were wont or able to pay when at Liberty or is it reasonable that a pittifull dog-hole in a Prison shall yield Ten Twenty or Thirty Shilling a week that is to say with so many Beds in a Room sometimes Two Three or Four and two Persons in a bed and all the bedding Bedcloaths and Furniture not worth Forty Shillings in all when a better Room may be had in any part of London or Westminster for Two Shilling in the week or is it Justice that a Go let must have his full demands without producing his Table of Fees pursuant to the Laws of the Land or is it consistent with good Measures that a Pint and a half of nasty sower Ale in a Prison shall pass for a full Quart paying two pence for the same when a full Quart of good Drink may be dayly had into the Prison for three-half-pence and likewise that a Pint of Brandy in a Prison should be divided into Six Quarterns and each Quartern sold for Three-pence when a full P●nt of Brandy may be had into the Prison for Seaven-pence And Notwithstanding the Statute of the 22th and 23th of King Charles the Second made for the Regulation of Prisons strictly charging and requiring all Goalers to let Meat Drink and all other Conveniencies at all Seasonable hours into the Prison the Prisoners paying for the same Yet in Absolute Obstruction of the said Act of Parliament Goalers dayly deny the letting of Drink or Brandy into the Prison but Prisoners are forced to pay for the Liquors in the House or Prison at the rates aforesaid If this be not Extortion what is and if it be name that Prison about London where it is not dayly practis'd and where is the Encrease of any Man's Fortune by Imprisonment that a Goaler should thus put upon the Subjects or People of the Kingdom THE late Change of Government has taugho a great many of all sorts throughout the Kingdom a great deal of Experience that were Ignorant of a Prison before and perhaps would not believe what hardships others have undergone in Prisons before them 'till they came there to make Experiment themselves therefore it should be the Interest of every Individual Man to give his helping hand towards the Regulation of Prisons and the Correction of Goalers for it is believ'd that it never was the Intention of the Government to make the Subject's unfortunate Circumstances the Property of Goalers And to prevent such Future Irregularities not knowing whose turn a Prison may be next the Following Heads towards the Regulation of Prisons are most humbly offered to both Houses of Parliament Imprimis THAT such Commissioners as have no dependance upon any of the Four Courts at Westminster be Named and appointed by such a time as the direction of both Houses shall think fit as well for Enquity of the Extortions and Exactions Committed since their Majesties General Free Pardon in all the Prisons in and about the Cities of London and Westminster as also to inspect into the Chambers Cellars Rooms Measures Liquors Rules Rates and Fees of every such Prison or Prisons and to report the same upon Oath as ether or both Houses of Parliament shall think meet Secondly THAT all the Old Extortive Tables of Fees used in any or all of the said Prisons be brought into the House of Commons and there Examined and Ordered as that Honourable House shall judge fit Thirdly THAT that no Goaler shall presume on the Forfeiture of his Place to Employ any Prisoner in any Calling Imploy or Vocation either by Day or by Night in any Prison or Prisons whatsoever but procure and Employ such as are free and dread a Prison Fourthly THAT no Man that ever has been a Thief a Robber a High-way-man or that was Convicted of any Treason Fellony Perjury or Forgery be admitted into any Employment or Place whatsoever in Prison or Prisons throughout the Kingdom Fifthly THAT a Table of Fees be set up in a Publick Place in every and either of the said Prisons where every Prisoner shall have access thereto and that no Goaler shall presume on the Forfeiture of his Place as aforesaid and to be forthwith Prosecuted in such manner and Order as Both or either Houses of Parliament shall direct to demand any more Fees or Chamber-Rent then as expressly mentioned in the Tables of Fees so to be put up in every Prison and that no Goaler on the Forfeiture aforesaid shall put any Person or Persons in Irons that do not stand Charged with Treason Burglary or Felony Sixthly THAT no Goaler shall presume to hinder Friends Acquaintance or Relations from any Prisoner or Prisoners whatsoever except there be an Order of Council a Warrant from the Secretary of State or from the Judges or either of them to the Contrary and that no Goaler shall refuse to let in at all Seasonable hours such Meat Drink and other necessaries for to support Nature as any Prisoner shall think fit and that no Prisoner shall be compelled to buy any thing within the Prison and that the doors shall be opened upon all occasions to let comers and goers in and out of Prison at all Seasonable hours Sevently THAT no Prisoner shall be detain'd in the House or Prison after he is discharged whether Crown Prisoner or Debtor by any Keeper or Goaler paying the Fees according to the rates in the said Table and that after the discharge is obtain'd or had by the Prisoner or Prisoners that in the interval 'twixt the coming of the discharge paying of the Fees that no Action or Actions whatsoever shall lye against the Prisoner at the Peril of the Goaler and Forfeiture of his Place as aforesaid and where any Dispute Quarrel or Contest ariseth 'twixt the Goaler and the Prisoner that it shall not be left to the Goaler to be Judge in the Case but that it shall be referred to two Justices of the Peace whereof one shall be named by the Prisoner London Printed and Publish'd by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall