United Kingdom: Prison flogging apparatus

Public Record Office PCOM 7/386

These drawings dated 1894 show the equipment used in two English prisons, Dartmoor and Parkhurst, for floggings both as prison discipline and as judicial sentences by the courts.

The same frame was used for both flogging with the cat and birching. For the cat, which was inflicted across the shoulders, the prisoner stands upright with his wrists secured to the top. The birch was applied to the bare posterior, and for this a padded block was added which the culprit was made to bend over, his wrists being secured to tbe back of the contraption.

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Diagram of Parkhurst flogging frame

Diagram of Dartmoor flogging frame

Block to be added to Dartmoor flogging frame when used for birching

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