Robert Morris entertained George Washington for dinner in his
"cell." Once released, he resumed his career as the new nation's
richest man. Before John Pintard moved to New Gaol, he
redecorated his cell, had it repainted and upholstered, and
shipped in two mahogany writing desks. Meanwhile, the mass of
petty debtors housed in the same institution survived, if at
all, amid squalor, filth, and disease. They were often shackled,
and lacked heat, clean water, adequate food, or often food of
any kind. (You usually had to have the money to buy your own
food, clothing, and fuel.) Debtors in these prisons frequently
found themselves quite literally dying of debt. And you could
end up in such circumstances for trivial sums. Of the 1,162
jailed debtors in New York City in 1787, 716 owed less than
twenty shillings or one pound. A third of Philadelphia's inmates
in 1817 were there for owing less than $5, and debtors in the
city's prisons outnumbered violent criminals by 5:1. In Boston,
15% of them were women. Shaming was