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Category Archives: Prisons and Punishments

Prisons and Punishments: Dining at Alcatraz

Friday, July 17, 2015

With so much information on the Web about Alcatraz, I feel little need to write about my recent visit to this historical prison. But given my latest articles on prison food, I can not pass up posting some of the pictures I took of the kitchen. Prisoner meals were governed by “Alcatraz Regulation #33: DINING […]

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Eat Like an Early Convict: Prison Food Recipes

Thursday, October 2, 2014

As a follow-up to my last post on “A Foodie Look at Early Prison Food,” I decided to find out more about food served in early American prisons. During my research, I came across a description of the meals served to convicts in New York’s Newgate Prison in a 1799 Report of the Inspectors of […]

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Prisons and Punishments: The Crank Mill

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The punishment of forcing convicts to step on a treadmill–a large, long rotating cylinder with steps attached along the outside–failed to take hold in America, even though England used it successfully for years in its prisons. Proponents of the punishment argued that the treadmill turned prisoners into productive citizens by making them work and provide […]

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Prisons and Punishments: The Failure of the Treadmill in America

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

In 1822, when the American press began to circulate articles praising the use of a new invention in England that would instill fear in convicted felons and turn them into productive citizens, politicians, prison officials, and the press in America took notice. The invention was a treadmill, a large, long cylinder equipped with steps that […]

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Prisons and Punishments: The Treadmill Song

Thursday, January 24, 2013

From the Amateur STATE PRISON MELODIES. The Treadmill Song The stars are rolling in the sky, The earth rolls on below, And we can feel the rattling wheel Revolving as we go, Then tread away, my gallant boys, And make the axle fly; Why shouldn’t wheels go round about, Like planets in the sky? Wake […]

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