Punishment: Cruel and Unusual

• 2001-2001
• 1 season
• Documentary

Throughout history, man has shown infinite creativity in his ability to inflict pain on his fellow man. In ancient Greece and Rome punishment was cruel and torture was used to control the masses, force confessions, punish crimes and justify religious persecution. The Greeks were the first to invent a torture device called The Brazen Bull, a hollow bronze bull which used to cook people alive. But it was arrival of the Spanish inquisition in the 13 century which heralded a new age of blood chilling instruments of agony. With the 17th century Age of Enlightenment, a new way of thinking was dawning. Breakthroughs in science and philosophy led to the search for more humane ways of punishing criminals. Instead of filthy, dank dungeons, prisons were formed to help the prisoner rehabilitate back into society and punishment by execution evolved from the slow strangulation of petty thieves at Tyburn into today's simple pin-prick of the lethal injection. But despite their best attempts, reformers had failed to remove cruel and unusual punishment and torture from society.