he main prison of Seringapatam lies beneath the Sultan Battery on the North side of the Fort. Other dungeons lay beneath the Gate of the Fallen Fortress or Bidda Kote Bagalu, and the so-called 'Womens' Prison' is also pointed out on the island today. Twenty steps lead down to the Principal Prison, which is supported by eleven arches, affording some light and air. Here the prisoners were chained, often in pairs, and some reports suggest that they stood facing the wall and ate their food 'like horses' from the stone ledges upon which it was placed.

Tipu's prisons - whether at Seringapatam or Bangalore, or atop the impregnable rock forts, like Nandidrug - were dreaded as a fate worse than death. His cruelty to prisoners was legendary, . but it is important to set the tales of disease, inadequate provisions, and threats of forcible conversion in their 18 century context. Prisoners undoubtedly were harshly treated, but in Europe also, conditions in the Bastille in Paris during the French Revolution (1786) would have been equally harsh and terrifying. In Scotland, tales are still told of the 167 Covenanter prisoners held at Dunottar Castle in May 1685, most barbarously treated after an attempted escape.

Besides, contemporary letters and journals do record glimmers of 18 century humanity. The heroic guard, Syed Ibrahim, for example. His efforts on behalf of the British prisoners were such that the Governor of Madras erected a monument over his grave at Chelemangalam, and awarded his surviving sister a life pension. Both British soldiers and sepoys often seem to have made personal sacrifices in order to ease the lot of their officers, and Baird's memoirs record that, on 10th May 1781, Capt. Lucas volunteered to wear 2 sets of irons himself, rather than allow the gaoler to lock irons over Capt. Baird's open wound, received during the Battle of Pollilur. Baird survived, and continued his military career for many decades. Lucas died at Seringapatam on 5th July 1782.