possessor.

The joint wardens of the Fleet at the time of our history were Sir
Henry Lello and John Eldred; but their office was executed by deputy in
the person of Joachim Tunstall, by whom it was rented. As will naturally
be supposed, it was the object of every deputy-warden to make as much as
he could out of the unfortunate individuals committed to his charge; and
some idea of the infamous practices of those persons may be gathered,
from a petition presented to the Lords of the Council in 1586 by the
then prisoners of the Fleet. In this it is stated that the warden had
"let and set to farm the victualling and lodging of all the house and
prison of the Fleet to one John Harvey, and the other profits of the
said Fleet he had let to one Thomas Newport, the deputy there under the
warden; and these being very poor men, having neither land nor any trade
to live by, nor any certain wages of the said warden, and being also
greedy of gain, did live by bribing and extortion. That they did most
shamefully extort and exact from the prisoners, raising new customs,
fines, and payments, for their own advantage. That they cruelly used
them, shutting them up in close prisons when they found fault with their
wicked dealings; not suffering them to come and go as they ought to do;
with other abominable misdemeanours, which, without reformation, might
be the poor prisoners' utter undoing."

In consequence of this petition, a commission of inquiry into the
alleged abuses was appointed; but little good was effected by it, for
only seven years later further complaints were made against the warden,
charging him with "murders and other grave misdemeanours." Still no
redress was obtained; nor was it likely it would be, when the cries of
the victims of this abominable system of oppression were so easily
stifled. The most arbitrary measures were resorted to by the officers of
the prison, and carried out with perfect impunity. Their authority was
not to be disputed; and it has been shown how obedience was enforced.
Fines were inflicted and payment made compulsory, so that the wealthy
prisoner was soon reduced to beggary. Resistance to the will of the
jailers, and refusal to submit to their exactions, were severely
punished. Loaded with fetters, and almost deprived of food, the
miserable captive was locked up in a noisome subterranean dungeon; and,
if he continued obstinate, was left to rot there. When he expired, his
death was laid to the jail-