The Louisiana Legislature in 1840 passed an act to permit the establishment by the three municipalities of workhouses or prisons to house and employ "all persons legally committed by any magistrate authorized to commit vagrants." On June 13, 1844, the Third Municipality Council ordained the establishment of a facility to serve as a reformatory, asylum, and jail on the site of the Washington Market. The institution was placed under the charge of an Inspection Bureau, headed by the Recorder, which was to "purchase and make contracts for all necessary material, for the various prisoners works; [and] order the kind and amount of work the prisoners shall do ..." The Council also elected a principal keeper for the workhouse.