The Tucker Telephone is a

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 ...

device designed using parts from an old-fashioned crank telephone. The

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas ...

of the telephone is wired in sequence to two dry cell batteries so that the instrument can be used to administer electric shocks to another person. The Tucker Telephone was invented by A. E. Rollins, the resident physician at the

Tucker State Prison Farm The Tucker Unit is a prison in Dudley Lake Township, unincorporated Jefferson County, Arkansas, northeast of Pine Bluff. It is operated by the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC). Tucker is one of the state of Arkansas's "parent units" f ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, in the 1960s. At the Tucker State Prison Farm, an inmate would be taken to the "hospital room" where he was most likely restrained to an examining table and two wires would be applied to the prisoner. The ground wire was wrapped around the big toe and the "hot wire" (the wire that administers the current of electricity) would be applied to the other toe. The crank on the phone would then be turned, and an electric current would shoot into the prisoner's body. Continuing with the telephone euphemisms, 'long-distance calls' referred to several such charges, just before the point of losing consciousness. Often the victim would experience detrimental effects, mainly permanent organ damage and mental health problems. Its use was substantiated until 1968. There are doubtful reports from American

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veterans that field phones were occasionally converted into Tucker Telephones which were used by platoon commanders to torture

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

prisoners. A version of the device is used on a prisoner in the

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

film ''

Brubaker ''Brubaker'' is a 1980 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It stars Robert Redford as a newly arrived prison warden, Henry Brubaker, who attempts to clean up a corrupt and violent penal system. The screenplay by W. D. Richte ...

.'' A 1974 report by Seth B. Goldsmith, SCD noted "The Tucker telephone not only shocked the toes of the allegedly uncooperative and incorrigible prison-farm inmates of the Arkansas penal system, but it shocked the consciousness of the nation and awakened it to the atrocious conditions inside prisons."

References

External links

Military Medical Ethics Volume 2 Section IV: Medical Ethics in the Military
American inventions Contemporary instruments of torture Telecommunications equipment Torture in the United States Violence against men in Asia Violence against men in North America {{torture-stub

See also

References

External links