The upkeep of prisoners was not paid from the public purse: the jailers were expected to cover their costs, and if possible make a small profit, by providing food, drink, and bedding for a fee. Otherwise it was assumed that the prisoners’ friends and relatives would provide these necessaries for them. If they had none, they were dependent on charity, by begging at the prison windows. In the late sixteenth century, this caused serious financial hardship for Robert Worsley, the jailer at Manchester New Fleet, who was asked to hold Jesuit missionaries: being Jesuits, they had no personal money, and no one dared to be seen offering them charity. Rather than have them die on him, Worsley paid for their upkeep himself, and was virtually bankrupted.