Though nothing can be more illegal than misconfiding to the gaoler, by the second clause of the act relating to the management of gaols—the 5th and 6th William IV,— a power which is taken from the local magistrates themselves by the Abolition Act, namely, that of punishing the apprentices; yet a still more arbitrary and unjust authority is given by it to one local magistrate, namely, to treat a repeated breach of these gaol regulations (laid down by themselves, and subject to no approval to render them legal) as a felony;
Source: wiktionary