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torture
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mandatory bath punishment Black-and-white illustration of a Dartmoor prisoner in striped uniform turning a large crank handle as punishment. Instructions for the number of turns per day are posted on the wall. Aquatint illustration showing four men locked in a pillory on a raised wooden platform, surrounded by a jeering crowd in early 19th-century English dress. Hand-colored engraving showing prisoners walking on a large wooden treadmill under a roof at Brixton prison, London, in 1827, with a guard overseeing them and others seated nearby. restraining irons iron maiden Illustration showing British prison life in 1907: men walking on a treadmill for hard labor at the top, and at the bottom, a prisoner tied to a post being whipped with a cat-o-nine-tails while a guard watches. Spanish Inquisition
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mandatory bath punishment
mandatory bath punishment Type of torture known as “mandatory bath,” in which a prisoner (here a British prisoner aboard a convict ship bound for Australia) had his skin scraped off with a brush.

torture

human behavior
Written by
Nigel S. Rodley
Professor of Law, University of Essex and former Special Rapporteur, United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Nigel S. Rodley
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

torture, the infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering for a purpose, such as extracting information, coercing a confession, or inflicting punishment. It is normally committed by a public official or other person exercising comparable power and authority. Although the effectiveness of torture has been defended by many throughout history, notably Aristotle and Sir Francis Bacon, it was attacked as early as Roman times for encouraging its victims to lie. In ancient Greece...

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