![Pentonville Prison Treadmill 1895](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Pentonville_Prison_Treadmill_1895.jpg)
A penal treadmill (penal treadwheel or everlasting staircase) was a
treadmill
A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...
with steps set into two cast iron wheels. These drove a shaft that could be used to mill corn, pump water or connect to a large fan for resistance.
Penal treadmills were used in
prisons
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...
in the early
Victorian Britain
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
as a method of exerting hard labour, a form of punishment prescribed in the prisoner's sentence.
History
The prison treadwheel was introduced in 1818 by the British engineer Sir
William Cubitt
Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of ...
(1785–1861) as a means of usefully occupying convicts in the prisons at Bury St Edmunds and
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
. There had been simple two-man treadmills in prisons before which were used for raising water and grain preparation: these were on a large scale and for a different purpose. Cubitt observed prisoners lying around in idleness, and opined that it was better "reforming offenders by teaching them habits of industry." It was intended to be pointless and to punish; resistance to the motion was provided by straps and weights. Later when prison philosophy had changed it became acceptable to use the energy to power pumps and corn mills. 44 prisons in England adopted this form of hard labour to grind grain. Others remained "grinding the wind".
By the
Prison Act (1865), every male prisoner over 16 sentenced to
hard labour had to spend at least three months of his sentence in Labour Order. This consisted primarily of the treadmill, or, as an alternative, the
crank machine
The crank machine was a penal labour device used in England in the 19th century. It consisted of a hand-turned crank which forced four large cups or ladles through sand inside a drum, doing nothing useful.
The prisoner would typically be forc ...
. This consisted of a small wheel, like the wheel of a
paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...
, and a handle turned by the prisoner made it revolve in a box partially filled with gravel.
In 1895 there were 39 treadmills and 29 cranks in use in English prisons, and these had diminished to 13 and 5 respectively in 1901. The use of treadwheels was abolished in Britain in 1902 by the
Prison Act 1898
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...
.
America adopted the treadwheel in 1822, installing one in
Bellevue Hospital
Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. A second was erected in 1823, for the cost of $3000 at the
Old Newgate Prison
Old New-Gate Prison is a former prison and mine site on New-Gate Road in East Granby, Connecticut. It is now operated by the state of Connecticut as the Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine Archaeological Preserve. Previously closed for restoration ...
in
East Granby, Connecticut
East Granby is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,214 at the 2020 census.
History
Original inhabitants of the current East Granby area were Native American peoples, including the Algonquin/Poquonock, th ...
. A total of only four were built, three of which were quickly abandoned.
Description
The prison treadwheel was a long wooden cylinder with metal framing. It was originally about in diameter. On the exterior of the cylinder were wooden steps about apart. As the prisoner put his weight on the step it depressed the wheel, and he was forced to step onto the step above, it was an "everlasting staircase". There would be 18 to 25 positions on the wheel, each separated by a wooden partition so each prisoner had no contact with the adjacent prisoner and saw only the wall in front. They walked in silence for six hours a day, taking 15 minutes on the wheel followed by a 5-minute break.
In popular culture
On their 1977 album ''
Storm Force Ten'', folk-rock band
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...
included an English folk song called "The Treadmill Song" describing a prisoner's lot at hard labour, including the treadmill.
Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
/ref> In Charles Dickens' novel ''A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...
'' Ebenezer Scrooge references the treadmill, which he describes as "useful", and in his novel ''Bleak House
''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...
'' the lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn threatens Hortense with imprisonment with treadmills "for women".
The 1997 film ''Wilde'' shows Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
put to the treadmill as part of his hard labour punishment.
References
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{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017
Ethically disputed judicial practices
Penal labour
Animal engines