Electric Chair

The "Electric Chair" is one of the centrepieces of our punishment regime and all prisoners receive at least one dose, however short their sentence. The system uses an intense variation on TENS technology with some deeper intra-muscular shocking to produce a highly unpleasant experience for the women undergoing it.

Preparing the Prisoner

Prisoners who are to have electric shock administered will be prepared by a prison Medical Orderly in the Medical Wing, having been stripped and strait-jacketed in their cell by two escort warders. The Medical Orderly's role is to fit and check the electric helmet, the gag or tongue restraint and the intimate electrical probes. If this is the prisoner's first time of being shocked she may be unaware of the exact purpose of these preparations and there is no need to enlighten her before the preparations are complete, to minimise struggling.

The electric helmet consists of a cap formed from an open basket-work of leather with 24 small electrodes on the inside. The cap is attached to a leather collar by a strap at the rear and straps running in front of each ear. A formed leather chin-cup is attached to the collar and to the cap by straps either side. Women who have already been shaved bald are given a cap with flat faced electrodes pre-prepared with conducting adhesive: they are lightly spring loaded and should self-seat. Prisoners who still have hair are given a cap with dome shaped electrodes coated on conducting gel. These are tightened by hand and the mechanisms are slip limited, final contact tension being spring maintained. The brow band of the helmet is heavily padded so that it acts as a 'crash helmet' to absord any impact between the prisoner's head and the back of the electric chair as she thrashes about as she is shocked.

The Orderly will then either gag the prisoner or restrain her tongue, as directed. The gag is a solid rubber tongue, slightly bulbous on the centre underside so that it makes good contact with the prisoner's own tongue: it is wide enough to fill the mouth side to side and slightly wedge shaped so the prisoner can bit on it evenly. Electrodes are formed into the gag where it makes contact with the tongue but also following the tooth line.

As an alternative to gagging the prisoner may have her tongue restrained by two flat bars clamped together above and below the tongue. These are curved outward at the centre so that they can sit well back in the mouth without cutting into the underside of the tongue and the back edges of the bars are rounded to prevent them cutting into the corners of the mouth. If the prisioner will not co-operate by extending her tongue for fitting the clamp, the recommended course is for one of the escort warders to twist her nose with the shaped forceps provided until she screams, whereupon the orderly can insert a mouth spreader and use tongue-forceps to drag it out.

Both the gag and the tongue restraint are secured by a strap running behind the head and the chin cup is strapped into place so that the whole helmet with attachments is secure. The adequacy of the electrical connections over the scalp is tested with a small plug in meter: if all 24 electrodes cannot be made to register then at least 20 out of 24 must show green. If this cannot be achieved then treatment may have to be deferred until the prisoner can be shaved.

Fitting of the intimate probes should be straightforward. The escorts will already have fitted the prisoner with a clear plastic belt with a two piece understrap when strait-jacketing her and when the crotch strap of the strait jacket is undone the understrap will hang clear. The anal electrode appears simply as a medium sized waisted butt plug and may be inserted with the prisoner bending forwards or squatting, threading the wires and connector through the aperture in the understrap. The vaginal plug is similarly inserted, with the prisoner squatting down on to it, and the understrap is then secured and tightened before the crotch strap of her strait-jacket is re-fixed.

The prepared prisoner will then be walked down to the Electrical Room, giving her time to think on what is coming, if she has been shocked before, and serving as an example and reminder to the other prisoners.

The Equipment

The chair itself is a substantial item made of heavy square section oak with arms and a high back. The wood is oiled and has a slight sheen to it: it is mid brown except on the seat where prisoner discharges have darkened the timber. There is no padding anywhere on it. The chair is bolted securely to the floor.

There are restraints fitted to the chair for the ankles and the wrists. Body belt restraints are fitted at waist level and mid-chest, and there are attachment points for the electrical helmet the prisoner wears. All of the restraints allow a degree of movement: up to 9" at the ankles, 6" at the wrists and 4" or so for the body belts and helmet attachments. This is achieved by connecting the leather restraint straps to the chair by short lengths of heavy chain.

To one side and forward of the chair is the control panel, which is connected to the chair by a thick multicore cable. The circuitry and delivery of the electric shock is entirely digitally controlled, and the current pulses very small, so that the whole system could run from a plain box smaller than a laptop computer with a wireless connection to the chair. The visual elements are however designed to be intimidating and psychologically discomforting, so that the connecting cable appears substantial and capable of carrying large currents, the grey metal control box has a large mechanical breaker switch and the front panel has a number of warning and status lights, switches and meters. The whole apparatus emits a low hum when the breaker switch is thrown.

Attaching the Prisoner to the Chair

If the prisoner has been pre-prepared the crotch strap on her strait-jacket will be released and she will be placed in the chair. The chest-strap attachements should be used to temporarily secure the strait-jacket to the chair, so that the prisoner is secured while guards attach her to the chair. She will be able to kick out, even though her legs are manacled, so her guards will stay either side of the chair while attaching her ankle restraints. They can be attached to fit above the manacles at first and then tightened up over the ankles if the manacles are removed. They are usually left on for very short sessions, but otherwise removed.

The design of the transit strait-jacket allows the arms to be released separately with only a moderate loosening of the jacket itself. This allows the guards to transfer her restraint from the strait-jacket to the wrist restraints on the chair one arm at a time with maximum control.

Once the prisoner's wrists and ankles are fully secured her strait-jacket can be removed completely. The waist strap is secured first, so that she can not attempt to stand and pull free, futile though the attempt would be, and then the chest strap. The height of the chest strap is variable where its connecting chains attach to the chair and it should be adjusted so that it presses up under the breasts, which are thereby made lifted and prominent. She is now ready to be wired up.

Wiring-up the Prisoner

Once the prisoner has been strapped naked into the chair she can be connected to the electrical apparatus. The fittings are simple to operate and purpose designed and the locking connectors are colour-coded and have unique individual fitiing profiles so that there is no possibility of wiring up the prisoner incorrectly and task can be left to the escort guards.

The standard electrode pack is laid out on a trolley, which is wheeled in front of the prisoner so that she can see what has been prepared for her. The guards start with the pad electrodes which are self adhesive and simply have to have the backing paper removed and then be pressed against the prisoner's skin. Working from the bottom, these are attached to the calves, inner thighs, stomach (in two rows, one below and one above the restraint belt), underneath the breasts, under the forearms and upper arms, the armpits, under the chin and the cheeks. Extensive as this sounds it does not take more than a couple of minutes to apply them. The prisoner is also sitting on two sets of four electrodes built into the chair, one set under each buttock.

Next come the clip and clamp electrodes. Their design is a compromise between security/effectiveness and comfort. The system is designed to deliver controlled pain through electricity, not the coarser and random pain that comes through an over-tight or pinching clamp. The clamps take more time to secure correctly and it is an advantage if the guards enjoy the process, which most do.

The first clamps are a matching pair of curved spring clamps which attach to the labia. There are multiple electrodes in each clamp and they squeeze the labia firmly, but not over-hard. To the top of these two is attached the mounting of another pad-like electrode which uses spring pressure to keep it pressed firmly against the clitoris. After these come the nipple clamps, which are similar to clover clamps in design, but also have self-adhesive coating on the clamp-face electrodes.

The ears get similar double clamps which attach to the lobes and to the tragus of each ear. If the prisoner is not already wearing a gag-electrode as part of her pre-preparation then a clamp goes on her exposed and secured tongue. Like the labia clamps, this contains multiple electrode points.

Once all the electrodes are attached to the prisoner she is wired into the control apparatus simply by matching up the colour-coded twist-lock connectors hanging off each side of the chair to their respective mate at the end of each set of electrode cables. This completes the wiring-up of the prisoner ready to receive her quota of electric shock.

Administering the Electric Shocks

Before the shocking begins, a test sequence is run. The electrodes can monitor their own current flows and resistance, and changes in surface charge from adjacent electrodes. The prisoner will see one of the escort warders throw the breaker switch and hear the apparatus begin to hum. When the prominent 'TEST' button is pressed the prisoner may feel a very slight tingling from some, or all, of the electrodes fitted to her and all of the panel lights which correspond to a fitted electrode set should go green. These lights are in a block of eight rows of six lights. There is also a detailed on-screen readout at a desk behind, and not visible to, the prisoner so that any poorly contacting electrodes can be located and re-positioned quickly.

Once the check is cleared the warder inserts a digital card on which the shock sequence and strengths has been pre-programmed and without which the system will not run beyond test strength. The warder presses the 'Start' button and a light-up display clearly visible to the prisoner goes through the sequence 'VERIFIED' ... 'SYSTEM ARMING' ... 'READY' at random intervals of 5-20 seconds each. A sequence of 5 green lights leading to a large warning panel light up and a buzzer sounds: the panel displays 'SYSTEM LIVE' and 10 second countdown timer starts. All of this is pure tension building theatre.

Once the countdown reaches zero there is a delay of between 1 and 4 seconds, just to give the prisoner a brief moment of hope and then the shock sequence kicks in. The whole thing is entirely automatic once the start button has been pressed. There is a further count-down timer visible only to the warders and they have nothing further to do until the prisoner's shock treatment is finished. For that reason it is quite a popular duty: they can sit, chat and have a coffee while the prisoner is writhing under the treatment without any attention from them.

The Experience

The electric shock treatment has been developed to deliver a fully controllable experience of pain and distress to the prisoner without the attendant risk of permanent physical injury or damage that accompanies ordinary corporal punishment, and without the need for medical treatment and long recovery time. Whilst personal response to being shocked with electricity will, like any other pain response, vary to a degree from individual to individual, the range and gradation available with electric shocks means that it is much easier to ensure that each prisoner suffers as much as intended and for as long as intended.

Each batch of electrodes delivers a different experience. Starting with the legs, the calf electrodes make the legs spasm and kick out as far as they are able. The limited travel allowed i the ankle restraints helps prevent muscle or ligament damage. Higher up, the electrodes along the inner thigh cause painful muscle contractions and involuntary attemps to jerk the legs upwards.

The effects of the intimate electrodes can be imagined: both the anal and vaginal electrodes can both produce a jolt with the feel of being kicked hard in the backside or groin and also produce surges of electric shock that feel as if they are flowing deep through the inner organs in waves of pain. Higher up the stomach electrodes cause violent contractions and the feeling of being punched in the stomach. For this reason prisoners are always shocked on an empty stomach.

The arm electrodes produce similar results to the leg electrodes, with painful spasming and contractions in the muscles. The armpit electrodes are particularly painful. By contrast, the under-breast electrodes seem to be merely unpleasant whereas those attached directly to the nipples can produce a very strong reaction. Some women are particularly sensitive there and find the nipple clamp electrodes excrutiatingly painful.

The electrodes applied directly to the face cause it to distort and twist much as if the prisoner is having some sort of fit. It is not especially painful, although very unpleasant, but observers often find the effect greatly amusing. The shocks through the electrodes attached to the ear are usually perceived as much more painful, ranging between the sensation of being slapped on the side of the head through to a deep drilling pain felt right inside the ear.

The leather electric helmet produces a range of sensations from a deeply unpleasant feeling of the scalp crawling as if it is alive with insects, through to a feeling of being stung reapeatedly all over the head. At its highest setting it is said to feeling like drilling into the skull.

The mouth electrodes are reportedly the most hated, producing in addition to the pain of the the shocks an overwhelming urge and desire to follow natural instincts and spit the electrodes out. This is of course not possible and they are forced to retain the item, and feeling of having taken a mouthful of angry wasps. The degree to which the shocks travel across and through the teeth varies greatly: for some the sensation is like having the teeth drilled. Women who have their tongues clamped and shocked seem to expell more mucus and saliva through their noses, as well as convulsively from their open mouths.

The final sets of electrodues are the intimately placed ones. Prisoners who have not been shocked before are usually distressed by the forced insertion of substantial sized plugs in their anus and vagina, but that is little compared to their feekings once the shocks through them begin delivery. The shocks from the anal plug feel much like kicked repeatedly in the rear. Being internally deivered, the shocks tend to make the prisoner jerk forward in the chair as far as she is able, in contrast to ones on which she is sitting, which cause her to attempt to leap out of the seat. Whilst she can get away from the seat electrodes for just a fraction of a second, the contact being broken as she jerks up, there is no escaping the anal shocks. When both are running together it produces the amusing spectacle of her convulsively trying to leap out of the seat at the same time as staring forward, which limits her ability to twitch up and escape the seat electrodes momentarily.

The women tend to lose faecal material from theoir bowels durung this procedure, but are ordinarily left to sit in it as both adds to their humiliation and improves the electrical contact with the seat electrodes. When observers are present however, a diaper may be put on her at some stage to limit the unpleasant odours offending the visitors' sensibilities.

Finally there is the genital electrode set with its three areas of delivery. The shocks from the labial clamps produce a burning sensation throughout the groin area whereas the electrodes around the plug inserted in her vagina deliver an effect similar to the anal plug, but compeling the prisoner to throw herself back hard into the chair, instead of forward. The vaginal shocks seem to travel deeper into the internal organs and the sensation has been described as 'like being turned inside out'. The spasms seem more to shut off the bladder, in contrast to the electricity deliverd by the labial clamps, which stimulates involuntary urination.

The shocks to the clitoris always produce a convulsive reaction from the prisoner, even when the electrode is making relatively poor contact. Where the woman's anatomy allows for the tip of the electrode to be held within the folds of the clitoral hood the reaction is especially violent. The prisoner's reaction to a session of clitoral shock treatment for breach of the prison's ban on masturbation is a testament to its efficacy.

Exhibitions and Spectacles

As well as the routine shockings for discipline and punishment purposes, prisoners may be used as subjects in demonstrations of the efficiency and attributes of our electrical systems. These are generally referred to as Exhibitions and are open to leading members of our communities, persons interested in a professional capacity and also some members of the public drawn by lot from applications from law-abiding citizens.

A special category of non-routine shockings is known as a Spectacle. This takes place when the Courts sanctions a private shocking session, or series of sessions, on application by the victims of the prisoner's law breaking, for their benefit, so that they may see full rigour of the law being visited upon the criminal. They are also allowed, in a carefully controlled way, a chance to administer electric shock to the prisoner themselves if they wish.

The Prison has developed and tested its methods and equipment for the administration of Electric Shock Discipline over a number of years and we now have a 'state of the art' ESD system capable of delivering carefully controlled pain from the highly unpleasant through to the agonising with a very high repeat rate capability, with the minimum of skilled staff time involvement. EDS allows for the pain to be administered in a public, semi-public or private fashion, answering the need for both deterrence, retribution and recompense that a modern sociery demands. No long term damage is being done to the prisoner, answering humanitarian concerns and leaving observers able to enjoy the spectacle of the prisoner writhing in excrutiating torment, sitting in a pool of her own waste, repaying her debt to society.