388 Assembly Proceedings, March 19, 1735/6- April 10, 1736.

L. H. J.
Lib. No. 45

will pass, the words in actuall service between not and are in the 9^th
Line of the second page being inserted.
Which Bill Here passed with amendment for Ingrossing.
The Following Message [See page 336.]
Sent to the Upper House by Col Ward and M^r Wilson.
A Bill, Entituled, an Act for Erecting a Town in Kent County
&c. Read the first Time and ordered to Lie on the Table.
M^r Dulany from the Committee Appointed by the Lower House
to Inspect and Consider the State of the Prison of Annapolis and
of a Prison to be Built for the Publick use brings in the following
Report.
By the Committee appointed by the Lower house to Inspect and
consider the State of the prison of Annapolis and of a prison to
be built for the publick use, April 1^st 1736
Your Committee having Taken the Best Information we Could
Concerning the present Prison of Annapolis and the State it is in
we find that it was at first a very Inconvenient Building there being
but two Rooms in it Viz, One on the Ground Floor, and the Other
above, so that when men and Women are Confined as it Often
Happens, Either for Debts or Crimes There are no Separate Ap-

p. 624

partments for them: and such Debtors as have The Misfortune to
be in Prison then and who are Kept Generally in the Upper Room
are almost Perished with Could in the Winter and in Danger of
being Destroyed by the Stench which in the Summer time Comes
from the Lower Room where the Criminals are Confined.
Your Committee have likewise been Informed that Several Un-
fortunate persons who have been Confined for Debt in the said
Prison have Actually Died Some in The Prison, and Others Soon
After their Enbargement, and that many who have Escaped with
their lives have Contracted such Distempers dureing their Con-
finement as have greatly Impaired their Constitutions and rendred
their lives very miserable So that it may be Truly said that the Goal
of Annapolis, besides being a place of Restraint and Confinement
has also been a place of Death and Torments to Many Unfortunate
People.
The Building it Selfe is so old and great part of the Timbers so
rotten That it will Tumble Down if not soon Repaired, which
would put the Country To a Considerable Expence, without any
Possibility of remedying the Evils whereby so many have already
Suffered.
Your Committee therefore begg leave to represent it as their
Humble Opinion, that no more money ought to be laid out in Re-
pairing a Building so Inconvenient and Improper in Every Respect
as the said Prison is for the Use it was Designed; and that it would
be much more for the Honour of the Country to build a New Goal