a nineteenth-century print gives an idea of the gaol's size and strength, and shows the gatehouse in the centre of the south wall. contemporary descriptions speak of "a massive building looking more like a castle than a gaol, having high outer walls and an inner building complete with tall round bastions". it was commended "for the commodious distribution of the whole, the airiness of the compartments, the propriety of the regulations, and the strict attention paid to the cleanliness and morals of the prisoners". inmates imprisoned in the gaol for debt could expect a bedstead, sheets, two blankets in the winter and a rug. they would also be given a sixpenny loaf four times a year as the result of a bequest of a monmouth man who left £100 for that purpose. generally, the prisoners' diet was poor in the extreme. felons were allowed 1d of bread a day, but there was no allowance for debtors. john howard, the penal reformer, noted that many debtors survived on 'water soup' – soup which consisted of bread boiled in water.