The Fleet Prison is noteworthy for being one of the oldest of the English prisons, and one mentioned frequently in literature. This work explores the actual workings of the privately-owned debtors' prison, examining its earliest history from medieval times; the celebrated inquiry into the administration of the prison during the 1610s; the misuse of authority by the wardens in the 1680s onward; the infamous Parliamentary inquiry in 1729, based on the parliamentary reports, trial papers, etc,; to the closing by parliamentary legislation in 1842.