A fairly rich and interesting compilation of materials aimed at the tilao, i.e., the officials in charge of the two prisons of the Ministry of Justice (the Nanjian 南監 and Beijian 北監), which had been in existence since the Ming. Zhao was appointed to the position in 1879 and found it was full of pitfalls, due in part to the fact that the management was in complete disarray and the regulations and other materials were dispersed among many places, or lost. He decided to provide an orderly account that might be used as reference by his successors. The 4 chapters are devoted to, respectively, (1) provisioning, equipment and funding (囚糧), with discussion of regulations and precedents, figures, and information on the measures taken by the author; (2) regulations (條例), with comments; (3) procedures (章程), with dates provided and discussions; (4) miscellanea (雜考), including notes on prison lore, anecdotes on past tilao, etc.