| Description | The minutes are handwritten and signed by the committee chairman. Minutes BCC/1/AD/1/1/1 are in a red/brown A5 minute book with a label entitled 'Gaol 1843 committee' on the front cover. Minutes BCC/1/AD/1/1/2 are in a red/brown A5 minute book entitled 'Borough of Birmingham Gaol and Buildings Committee Minute Book' on the spine. The minutes include statistics relating to prisoners in the borough jail; reports detailing building works, staffing, statements of committee expenditure and annual accounts; and, similar information relating to the Kent Street Baths. The minutes from November 1844 include plans and estimates for the new Borough jail, including proposals and tenders from local companies and tradesmen regarding interior works and accommodation, and particulars of insurance. There are also detailed reports to Council relating to communication between the committee and central government, including Sir James Graham, Home Secretary in Sir Robert Peel's government until 1846, and Major Joshua Jebb, British Surveyor-General and Inspector of Convict Prisons. The minutes of 23 January 1845 include an appendix giving descriptions of the proposed jail, including the numbers of prisoners to be accommodated, measurements of sizes of cells, and other areas such as wash houses, exercise yards, chapels, convalescent wards, fittings and furnishings, stores and quarters for officers, and heating and sanitary apparatus. Additional and more detailed reports appear in the later minutes as the gaol works progress. There are also tables referring to parliamentary statutes (see bound series ('Statutes of the Realm') applicable to the work of the committee and the building of the jail (see the report to Council referred to in minute 417 of the committee meeting of 27 February 1849). |