...that the secret prisons had the reputation of being less harsh than episcopal or royal gaols, and that the general policy respecting them was more humane...other jurisdictions, whether in Spain or elsewhere. The same writer quotes instances of imprisoned men uttering heresy in order to be transferred to the...

...I.ea, the great liberal historian, writes: 'On the whole we may conclude that the secret prisons ot the Inquisition were less intolerable places of abode...obstinacy of the impenitent was to be broken down.' History of the Inquisition in Spain, Vol. 2, New York, 1906, p. 534. Prisoners accused before secular...

...secret prison that was meant to hold prisoners during their trials. Henry Charles Lea's famous dictum that "the secret prisons of the Inquisition were less...places of abode than the episcopal and public gaols" can no longer be entirely accepted in the light of current research.21 Some tribunals, especially the...