Penal treadmill

A Penal treadmill was a treadmill with exterior 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. They were used in prisons in the early Victorian period in Britain as a method of exerting hard labour, a form of punishment prescribed in the prisoner's sentence.

The prison treadwheel was introduced in 1818 by the British engineer Sir William Cubitt (1785–1861) as a means of usefully occupying convicts in the prisons at Bury St Edmunds and Brixton. 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 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. Forty-four 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 of the first class. This consisted primarily of the tread-mill, or, as an alternative, the crank machine. This consisted of a small wheel, like the wheel of a paddle steamer, and a handle turned by the prisoner made it revolve in a box partially filled with gravel.

In 1895 there were 39 tread-mills 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 Prisons Act (1898).

America adopted the treadwheel in 1822, installing one in Bellevue County penitentiary in New York City. A second was erected in 1823, for the cost of $3000 at the Newgate state prison in Simsbury, CT. But only four were built, three of which were quickly abandoned.

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