Penal treadmill

These drove a shaft that could be used to mill corn, pump water, or connect to a large fan for resistance.

[2] In early Victorian Britain the treadmill was used as a method of exerting hard labour, a form of punishment prescribed in the prisoner's sentence.

There had been simple two-person treadmills in prisons before, used for raising water and grain preparation; these were on a large scale and for a different purpose.

[4] Cubitt observed prisoners lying around in idleness and opined that it was better for "reforming offenders by teaching them habits of industry.

In 1959 it was mentioned by Clarice M. Carr in his Scandal at High Chimneys as part of the first act of "It is never too late to mend".