Convicts weren’t completely without rights, though. The colonial government paid for their food and clothes, so if a convict’s master wasn’t feeding or clothing them properly, was giving them disproportionate physical punishment or not allowing them enough rest, the convict could have their complaint heard. If the defendant was found guilty, the convict could be reassigned to someone else and their former master or mistress could lose their right to have convicts work for them at all in the future.