[1] Before 1680, Manuel João Fonseca had completed the retable dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our Lady of the Rosary).

[1] There was an attempt by the religious to enlarge the monastery's area, to the Rua da Infância in São Vicente and contiguous lands, in order to expand the building and the convent's vegetable garden.

In the 6 August 1759 Memórias Paroquiais, signed by the São Vicente parish priest, Francisco José de Matos, the building continued to be referred to as a monastery and were occupied by lay nuns without a patron saint.

Two chapels flanked the presbytery, and housed the Irmandade dos Escravos do Santíssimo (Brotherhood of Blessed Slaves).

This was an institution for males, in order to remove minors from the penal system, including children jailed by administrative authorities or at the request of their parents.

[1] The same law authorized a budget of 6,000 escudos to accommodate the ends of the detention house and fix the building of the former convent of the Lay Sisters of St Augustine, denominated the "Mónicas".

On 20 October 1872, the building was inaugurated and exceeded the projected cost by 30 escudos, 372 réis: 32 people from Limoeiro entered at the time of its "official" opening.

[1] The assumption at the time was that the old convent was adequate for the purpose; it was used as a prison for minors, required little work and included a large courtyard and outhouses that could permit the installation of the population at Aljube.

[1] On 2 November 1941, the Director General of Buildings and National Monuments approved a proposal by Horácio Novais to work on the "historic" prisons of Caxias, Limoeiro, Mónicas, Monsanto and Alenquer, for 2,700 escudos.

[1] Yet, in 1953, the construction of the Cadeia Central de Mulheres in Tires, permitted that the prison population at the old convent be transferred from the old building.

The building continued to be part of the Ministry of Justice, and would eventually function as a female block for the jail of Lisbon (one of three sections at the site), with space for 150 prisoners.