316 Assembly Proceedings, August 19-September 6, 1731.

L. H. J.

Your Committee' Observe that the Prison it Self, from the Close-
ness and Inconveniency of the building, which Deprives the poor
People who have the Misfortune of being Confined there, of the
benefit of the Air & Exposes them to all the Inconvenience of the
Violent hot weather in the Summer Season cannot fail of being fatal
to the health of all and to the lives of Many which are Confined there
for any Considerable time.
The want of a Place to walk and Exercise in, and to receive the
Benefit of the fresh Air, the want of a well or Pump which would
furnish the poor Prisoners with a Sufficient Quality of Cool Clean
water not only to wash and keep themselves Clean but Slack their
[thirst] are very great Additions to their Miseries, and the want of a
Proper Receptacle for their Excrements Occasions a Constant Stench
Especially in hot weather, Intolerable to the poor Creatures who are
Confined near it, and indeed dangerous & Offensive to others; &
should the number of Prisoners be Considerable and they be Afflicted
with any Epidemical or Pestilential Distemper, your Committee Ap-
prehend that the Excrements of persons so Afflicted lieing Exposed in

p. 330

the Manner Already Mentioned, may very Probably Occasion the
spreading the Infection. This our own reason Suggest to us and we
are Confirmed in the Justness of the Observation by the Opinion of
Several Physicians whom we have Consulted on the Occasion, In
a word your Committee look on the Gaol of Annapolis, in its present
Condition, to be a place of Almost Constant and uninterrupted tor-
ment to such poor Unhappy Men as are Considered therein.
Your Committee therefore humbly Conceive that such Measures
Ought to be taken as to make a restraint of Liberty (in it Self very
Grievous) tollerable to poor Men, [who] have had or shall have the
Misfortune to become Indebted more than they can pay, & as an Ex-
pedient for that End, your Committee propose that there be a better
and more Commodious Gaol built in Annapolis, with so much
Ground Sufficiently Inclosed about it, as may Suffice for the prisoners
to walk & Exercise in, that there be a well or pump and a proper
Receptacle for their ordure: And whether the like Provision ought
not to be made in every County in the Province your Committee Sub-
mit to the Consideration of the House.

The Ground which the Gaol of Annapoils stands on is part of one
of the Lotts belonging to the Church.
D. Dulany
Levin Gale
Joh Beale

And Delivered the same to M^r Speaker.
On reading the said Report It is Ordered that a Bill be brought in
to Empower the Justices of the several Countys to Levy Tobacco on
the Taxable persons in their Countys to be Appropriated towards