Note 179 — Chapter I · PENAL METHODS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Reading edition
The old-time prisoners depended mainly upon their friends and upon outside charity for their sustenance (vide Britton; Bracton, lib. iii., etc.). After the reign of Elizabeth they were supposed to receive 1d. or 2d. a day, or seven to eight ounces of bread. (Du Cane, p. 40.)
From 1759, by 32 Geo. II. c. 28, each debtor was ordered to receive 2s. 4d. a week from his detaining creditor, but Howard found (p. 6) that, in practice, they could not get it, and numbers actually starved.