Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (,
,
) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic
feeding tube
Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, her ...
passed through the nose (
nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into the stomach.
Of humans
In psychiatric settings
Within some countries, in extreme cases, patients with
anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gr ...
who continually refuse significant dietary intake and weight restoration interventions may be
involuntarily fed by force via
nasogastric tube
Nasogastric intubation is a medical process involving the insertion of a plastic tube (nasogastric tube or NG tube) through the nose, down the oesophagus, and down into the stomach. Orogastric intubation is a similar process involving the inserti ...
under
restraint within specialist
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
s.
Such a practice may be highly distressing for both anorexia patients and healthcare staff.
In prisons
Some countries force-feed prisoners when they go on
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
. It has been prohibited since 1975 by the
Declaration of Tokyo
The Declaration of Tokyo is a set of international guidelines for physicians concerning torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in relation to detention and imprisonment, which was adopted in October 1975 during the 2 ...
of the
World Medical Association
The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 18, 1947 and has grown to 115 national m ...
, provided that the prisoner is "capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment." The violation of this prohibition may be carried out in a manner that can be categorised as
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
, as it may be extremely painful and result in severe bleeding and spreading of various diseases via the exchanged blood and mucus, especially when conducted with dirty equipment on a prison population. Large feeding pipes are traditionally used on hunger striking prisoners
whereas thin pipes are preferred in hospitals.
United Kingdom
Suffragettes
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
who had been imprisoned while campaigning for
votes for women
A vote is a formal method of choosing in an election.
Vote(s) or The Vote may also refer to:
Music
*''V.O.T.E.'', an album by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo, 2004
*"Vote", a song by the Submarines from ''Declare a New State!'', 2006
Television
* " ...
went on hunger strike and were force fed. This lasted until the Prisoners Act of 1913, also known as the
Cat and Mouse Act
The Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act, commonly referred to as the Cat and Mouse Act, was an Act of Parliament passed in Britain under H. H. Asquith's Liberal government in 1913. Some members of the Women's Social and Political Un ...
, whereby debilitated prisoners would be released, allowed to recover, and then re-arrested. Rubber tubes were inserted through the mouth (only occasionally through the nose) and into the stomach, and food poured down; the suffragettes were held down by force while the instruments were inserted into their bodies, an experience which has been likened to
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
. In a smuggled letter,
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with ...
described how the warders held her down and forced her mouth open with a steel gag. Her gums bled, and she vomited most of the liquid up afterwards.
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...
, founder of the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
, was horrified by the screams of women being force-fed in
HM Prison Holloway. She wrote: "Holloway became a place of horror and torment. Sickening scenes of violence took place almost every hour of the day, as the doctors went from cell to cell performing their hideous office. ...I shall never while I live forget the suffering I experienced during the days when those cries were ringing in my ears." When prison officials tried to enter her cell, Pankhurst, in order to avoid being force-fed, raised a clay jug over her head and announced: "If any of you dares so much as to take one step inside this cell, I shall defend myself."
In 1911,
Wiliam Ball, a male working class supporter who had broken two windows and consequently been sentenced to two months, was given this treatment and then separated from contact with his family, leading to his clandestine transfer to a mental hospital. This case was taken up by groups such as WSPU and the
Men's League for Women's Suffrage The Men's League for Women's Suffrage may refer to:
*The Men's League, United States women's suffrage group, also known as the Men's Equal Suffrage League and the Men's League for Women's Suffrage
*The Men's League for Women's Suffrage (United King ...
, whose pamphlet on the case had the subtitle ''Official Brutality on the increase.''
The first woman in Scotland to be force fed was
Ethel Moorhead
Ethel Agnes Mary Moorhead (28 August 18694 March 1955) was a British suffragette and painter and was the first suffragette in Scotland to be forcibly-fed.
Early life
Moorhead was born on 28 August 1869 in Fisher Street, Maidstone, Kent. She wa ...
, in
Calton Jail Calton may refer to:
Places:
*Calton, Glasgow, Scotland
**Calton (ward), an electoral ward of the Glasgow City Council
*Calton, North Yorkshire, England
*Calton, Ontario, Canada
*Calton, Staffordshire, England
*Calton Hill
Calton Hill () is ...
, who despite being under medical supervision became seriously ill. The governor, Major William Stewart, argued that her illness was not caused by the feeding regime, but also said:
We must face the fact that artificial feeding is attended with risk and we must teach uffragette prisonersthat, while we appreciate the risks, we are quite prepared to go on and will not be deterred from detaining people like oorheadbecause there is a risk to their health, if we take the necessary steps to make sure their detention is effective... They have the idea that they can frighten us by pointing out the risk to health.
But the governor also recognised that there was a risk of the public deciding that prison authorities were "going too far".
After Moorhead's release, the WPSU published a handbill,
''Scotland Disgraced and Dishonoured''
, with Moorhead describing her experience being fed by force:
The tube filled up all my breathing space, I couldn't breathe. The young man began pouring in the liquid food.
I heard the noises I was making of choking and suffocationuncouth noises human beings are not intended to make and which might be made by a vivisected dog. Still he kept on pouring.
In 1914,
Frances Parker
Frances Mary "Fanny" Parker (24 December 1875 – 19 January 1924) was a New Zealand-born suffragette who became prominent in the militant wing of the Scottish women's suffrage movement and was repeatedly imprisoned for her actions.
Early lif ...
, another Scottish suffragette, was being force-fed by the rectum (a
nutrient enema
A nutrient enema, also known as feeding per rectum, rectal alimentation, or rectal feeding, is an enema administered with the intent of providing nutrition when normal eating is not possible. This treatment is ancient, dating back at least to the s ...
, a standard procedure before the invention of
intravenous therapy
Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutri ...
) and once by the vagina
in the
Perth prison:
Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes (, June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel ''Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist litera ...
, an American journalist, agreed to submit to force-feeding for a 1914 ''
New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...
'' magazine article. Barnes wrote, "If I, play acting, felt my being burning with revolt at this brutal usurpation of my own functions, how they who actually suffered the ordeal in its acutest horror must have flamed at the violation of the sanctuaries of their spirits." She concluded, "I had shared the greatest experience of the bravest of my sex."
The United Kingdom also used forcible feeding techniques against
Irish Republicans
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The developm ...
during their struggle for independence. In 1917, Irish prisoner
Thomas Ashe
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
died as a result of complications from such a feeding while incarcerated at
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
's
Mountjoy Jail
Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland.
The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins.
History
...
. The outrage of Ashe's death from the Irish public was so great that force feeding has never been used in Ireland since.
[
]
United States
Ethel Byrne
Ethel Byrne ( Higgins; 18831955) was an American Progressive Era radical feminist. She was the younger sister of birth control activist Margaret Sanger, and assisted her in this work.
Background
Ethel and Margaret were two out of eleven children ...
was the first female political prisoner in the United States to be subjected to force feeding after she was jailed at Blackwell Island
workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
on January 22, 1917, for her activism in advocating for the legalization of
birth control
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
. She subsequently went on a
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
and refused to drink water for 185 hours.
![Restraint chair used for enteral feeding -b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Restraint_chair_used_for_enteral_feeding_-b.jpg)
Under United States jurisdiction, force-feeding is frequently used in the U.S. military prison in
Guantanamo Bay, prompting in March 2006 an open letter by 250 doctors in ''
The Lancet
''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823.
The journal publishes original research articles, ...
'', warning that, in their opinion, the participation of any doctor is contrary to the rules of the
World Medical Association
The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 18, 1947 and has grown to 115 national m ...
.
In the 2009 case ''
Lantz v. Coleman'', the Connecticut Superior Court authorized the state Department of Correction to force-feed a competent prisoner who had refused to eat voluntarily. In 2009, terrorist
Richard Reid
Richard Colvin Reid (born 12 August 1973), also known as the "Shoe Bomber", is the perpetrator of the failed shoe bombing attempt on a transatlantic flight in 2001. Born to a father who was a career criminal, Reid converted to Islam as a young ...
, known as the "shoe bomber," was force-fed while on a hunger strike at the
United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX
The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pris ...
, the federal
supermax prison in Colorado. Hundreds of force-feedings have been reported at ADX Florence.
Forced feeding has also been used by the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
against detained asylum seekers on hunger strike.
In February 2019, the
expressed that such treatment of detainees could constitute a breach of the
United Nations Convention against Torture
The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (commonly known as the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT)) is an international human rights treaty under the review of the United Nation ...
.
[ The Associated Press quoted one 22-year old asylum seeker who alleged that "he was dragged from his cell three times a day and strapped down on a bed as a group of people poured liquid into tubes inserted into his nose."][
]
Soviet Union
Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Константи́нович Буко́вский; 30 December 1942 – 27 October 2019) was a Russian-born British human rights activist and writer. From the late 1950 ...
described how he was force-fed:
"The unfortunate patients had their mouth clamped shut, had a rubber tube inserted into their mouth or nostril. They keep on pressing it down until it reaches your esophagus. A funnel is attached to the other end of the tube and a cabbage-like mixture poured down the tube and through to the stomach. This was an unhealthy practice, as the food might have gone into their lungs and caused pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
."
United Nations War Crimes Tribunal
On December 6, 2006, the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
at The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
approved the use of force-feeding of Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
n politician Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician, founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS); he was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribuna ...
. They decided it was not "torture, inhuman or degrading treatment
Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT) is treatment of persons which is contrary to human rights or dignity, but is not classified as torture. It is forbidden by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 of the European Convention ...
if there is a medical necessity to do so... and if the manner in which the detainee is force-fed is not inhuman or degrading."
Israel
In 2015, the Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
passed a law allowing the force-feeding of prisoners in response to a hunger strike by a Palestinian detainee who had been held for months in administrative detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
. Israeli doctors refused to feed Mohammad Allan against his will, and he resumed eating after the Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
temporarily released him.
Greece
Forced feeding has been ordered by Greek courts against hunger strikes at different times including in 2021 when a Greek prosecutor proposed the force-feeding of Dimitris Koufontinas in the effort of stopping Koufontinas's 65 day hunger and water strike which started in February 2021. The doctors of the hospital of Lamia
LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...
, where Koufodinas was hospitalised refused to administer force feeding procedures, a Greek doctors' union has called the practice torture. A similar situation played out in 2014 when 21 year old convicted anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
bank robber and childhood friend of Alexandros Grigoropoulos
The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Γρηγορόπουλος), a 15-year-old Greek student, was killed by a special officer in Exarcheia district of central Athens. The kill ...
, Nikos Romanos who engaged in a hunger-strike for access to education which lead to a force-feeding being ordered. Romanos successfully resisted the force-feeding order with the help of his doctors. Romanos terminated his hunger-thirst strike after 30 days having won access to a university education.
Other forms
Force-feeding of pernicious substances may be used as a form of torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and/or physical punishment. While in prison in northern Bosnia in 1996, some Serbian prisoners have described being forced to eat paper and soap.
Sometimes it has been alleged that prisoners are forced to eat foods forbidden by their religion. The ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' has reported that Muslim prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison
Abu Ghraib prison ( ar, سجن أبو غريب, ''Sijn Abū Ghurayb'') was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1950s and served as a maximum-security prison with torture, weekly exe ...
under the U.S.-led coalition described in sworn statements having been forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, both of which are strictly forbidden in Islam (see Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the CIA committed a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including Physical abuse, physical and sexu ...
).
Of babies
According to ''Infant feeding by artificial means: a scientific and practical treatise on the dietetics of infancy'', a French system of feeding newborn or premature babies
Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is between 2 ...
who could not suckle was known as ''gavage''. Sadler dates its origin to 1874 and quotes Étienne Stéphane Tarnier
Stéphane Étienne Tarnier (29 April 1828 – 23 November 1897) was a French obstetrician who was a native of Aiserey.
He studied and practiced medicine in Paris, and is often considered as doyen of French obstetrics during the second half of the ...
, a pioneer perinatologist, describing the procedure.
Nowadays, infants in a neonatal intensive care unit
A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), also known as an intensive care nursery (ICN), is an intensive care unit (ICU) specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants. Neonatal refers to the first 28 days of life. Neonatal care, as kn ...
are likely to be fed by nasogastric or sometimes orogastric tubes.
For girls before marriage
Force-feeding used to be practiced in North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and still is in Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
. Fatness was considered a marriage asset in women; culturally,