July 1800.

The Representation of the Grand Jury
was also laid before your Committee and Read in the
following Words Vizt..

The Presentment of the Grand Jury
for the County of Middlesex at their General
Session of the peace holden for the said
County at the Session House of Clerkenwell
Green on the Twenty seventh day of
May in the Fortieth year of the Reign
of our Lord the King.

In Consequence of a Witness who was ill, being
brought before us in a prosecution we Considerd it our
duty to obtain an Order of this Court, to visit the Prison
in Cold Bath fields for the purpose of enquiry into the
State of that Prison and particularly respecting the
Care and Attention that is paid to the Sick, and the
following observations are the result of that Enquiry

That from the Cleanliness and good Order
preserved there we Consider it the best Conducted Prison
we ever Saw for Prisoners after Conviction the Article
of Bedding alone excepted which certainly appears to us
by no means sufficient oven for the summer Season.

That for Persons before Conviction we think it the
most improper in as much as no Provision is made for
them but Bread and Water and the difficulty if not the
impossibility of obtaining admission for their Friends to
see them renders it a Melancholy and dangerous
Situation and appears to us Contrary to the principals
of our happy Constitution which has wisely provided
that no punishment shall take place till after Conviction

The Case of the Witness Mary Rich< no role > that first induced
us to visit that place is a Case in point she being a Person
that has suffered a severe Injury for which she is about
to Prosecute has been Confin'd there more than a Month
without any Provision but Bread and Water and whose
Friends from their Poverty or other Difficulties have