CRI 029: Institutional Corrections

Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

Lesson Title: PUNISHMENT References:

Lesson Targets:
At the end of the session, the student’s will be able to:
a. describe the types of punishment prevalent in
ancient times;
b. list and describe the major criminal punishments
used throughout history; and
c. explain the ideas that led to the use of
incarceration as a criminal punishment and as an
alternative to earlier punishment.
1. Guerrero, Brian & Molato, Ronith –
Institutional Correction
2. Foronda, Mercedes – Correctional
Administration 1 (Institutional Correction)
3. Schmalleger, Frank & Smykla, John Ortiz-
Corrections in the 21st Century.

A. LESSON PREVIEW/REVIEW
Before the building of prisons began, a variety of practices, based on the law and justice concepts of
certain cultural groups, were used to punish wrongdoers and maintain order. In our lesson for today, we will
briefly highlight some of these practices and the traditions that have influenced modern correctional practices.
So let’s start.

B. MAIN LESSON

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

Over time, the death penalty has become even more controversial
throughout the world. This form of execution is most closely associated with the
reign of the Roman Emperor Caligula. The criminal was attached to an arch of
wood and then sawn vertically from the groin down through the skull.

Garotte was used in Spain for hundreds of years, it

is an efficient means of execution by asphyxiation. In an
earlier version, the victim was tied to a stake and a loop
of rope was placed around his/her neck. A rod in the
loop was turned until the rope tightened, choking the
victim. In later versions, the stake was replaced with a
chair in which the victim was bound, and the rope was
replaced with a metal collar.

Guillotine. Conceived in the late 1700’s this was one of the first methods of
execution created under the assumption that capital punishment was intended to end
life rather than inflict pain. Although it was specifically invented as a human form of
execution it has been outlawed in France and the last one was in 1977.

Premature Burial. This technique has been used by governments

throughout history to execute condemned prisoners. One of the latest
documented cases was during the Nanking Massacre in 1937 when
Japanese troops buried Chinese civilians alive.

Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered. Used mainly in England, it is

widely considered to be one of the most brutal forms of execution ever
devised. First, the victim is tied in a wooden frame and dragged to the
location of their execution (drawn). They were then hung until nearly
dead (hanged). Immediately after being taken down their abdomen was
opened and their entrails were removed. As the victim watched they
were then burned before his or her eyes. He was then also emasculated
and eventually beheaded. After all this, his body was divided into four
parts (quartered) and placed in various locations around England as a
public crime deterrent. This punishment was only used on men for any
convicted woman would generally be burnt at the stake as a matter of
decency.

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

Electric Chair. It is an execution method originating in the United States

in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden
chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the head and leg. This
execution method has been used in the United States and, for a period of
several decades, in the Philippines.

Firing Squad. It is sometimes called fusillading (from the French

fusil, rifle). This method is particularly common in the military and in times
of war. Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice. Some reasons for its
use are that firearms are usually readily available and a gunshot to a vital
organ usually kills relatively quickly. A firing squad is normally composed of
several military personnel or law enforcement officers. Usually, all
members of the group are instructed to fire simultaneously.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT (Physical Torture)

Flogging. It has been the most common physical punishment

through the ages. The construction of flogging whips varied greatly, from
simple leather straps or willow branches to heavy, complicated instruments
designed to inflict maximum pain. A traditional form of whip was a
cat-o-nine-tails, consisting of nine knotted cords fastened to a wooden
handle. The “cat” got its name from the marks it left on the body, which
were like the scratches of a cat. One especially cruel form of the whip, the
Russian knout, was made of leather strips fitted with fishhooks. When a
prisoner is whipped, the hooks would dig into the body, ripping away a
proverbial “pound of flesh” with each stroke. A thorough whipping with the
knout could result in death from blood loss.

The Brazen Bull. It was a hollow brass statue crafted to

resemble a real bull. Victims were placed inside, usually with their
tongues cut out first. The door was shut, sealing them in. fires would
then be lit around the bull. As the victim succumbed to the searing
heat inside, he would thrash about and scream in agony. The
movements and sounds, muted by the bull’s mass, made the
apparatus appear alive, the sounds inside like those of a real bull.
This effect created additional amusement for the audience, and
served the added benefit of distancing them from the brutality of the
torture, since they couldn’t directly see the victim.

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

Wheels. Were adapted to many torturous uses. The victim would

be tied to the wheel, and then swung across some undesirable thing
below – fire was always a good choice, but dragging the victim’s flesh
across metal spikes also worked well. The wheel itself could also have
spikes mounted on it, so the pain came from all directions. Instead of
swinging, the wheel might turn on an axle. The difference was likely
immaterial to the victims.

Branding. A type of mutilation that was practiced in Roman society.

Criminals were branded with a mark or letter signifying their crimes. Brands,
which were often placed on the forehead or another part of the face, served to
warn others of an offender’s criminal history. French branded criminals on the
shoulder with the royal emblem. They later switched to burning onto the
shoulder a letter signifying the crime of which the offender had been convicted.

Mutilation. Another type of corporal punishment used in

ancient and medieval societies. In ancient Rome offenders were
mutilated according to the law of retaliation, or lex talionis.
Medieval justice frequently required that punishment fit the crime.
Hence, “thieves and counterfeiters had their hands cut off, liars
and perjurers had their tongues torn out, spies had their eyes
gouged out, sex criminals had their genitals removed, and so
forth.

Public Humiliation. Many corporal punishments were carried out in

public, primarily to deter other potential lawbreakers. Some other forms of
punishment depended on public ridicule for their effect. These included the
stocks and the pillory. Stocks held a prisoner in a sitting position, with feet and
hands locked in a frame. A prisoner in the pillory was made to stand with his or
her head and hands locked in place. Both devices exposed the prisoner to
public scorn. While confined in place, prisoners were frequently pelted with
eggs and rotten fruit. Sometimes they are whipped or branded.

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

Banishment, Exile or Transportation. In early societies, this method

sometimes took the place of corporal and capital punishment. The ancient
Greeks permitted offenders to leave the Greek state and travel to Rome,
where they might gain citizenship. Exile was regarded as akin to a death
sentence, since the banished person could no longer depend on his or her
former community for support and protection. After the American Revolution,
convicted felons began piling up in English jails with no place to go. Legislation
was soon passed authorizing prisoners to be housed aboard floating prison
ships called hulks. Many of these vessels were abandoned merchant ships or
broken-down warships. Hulks were unsanitary, rat infested, and unventilated,
and the keepers flogged the inmates to force them to work.

Skill-building Activities.
Exercise 1. Four our first activity, I want you to answer the following questions
below. Answer it briefly and justify your answers.

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

Exercise 2. For our second activity, I want you to think as a correction officer. As a correction
officer, you are tasked to formulate a plan to punish wrongdoers. With that, I want you to
devise a form of punishment you think that would punish criminal offenders. Identify the form
and explain how it is done. Write your answers on the space provided.

Check for Understanding.

TRUE OR FALSE. Write TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if it is
otherwise.

________ 1. Punishment can be utilized by the government as a means of social control to cause people
to become cohesive and to induce conformity with the prescribed laws, rules and regulations.

________ 2. Punishment by means of hanging, burning, immersing in boiling oil and feeding to wild
animals are forms of corporal punishment.

________ 3. Punishment must be commensurate with the offense which means that different crimes must
be punished with different penalties.

________ 4. Punishment often isolates the criminal, leaves in him a stigma and develops in his person a
strong resentment of authority.

________ 5. Anyone who has violated penal laws will be subjected to punishment.

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

C. LESSON WRAP-UP

Thinking about Learning

Congratulations for completing this module! You can now shade the number of modules you have
completed.

“My Learning Tracker”

Date

Learning Target/Topic

Activities

Scores

Action Plan

(What contributed to the

quality of your performance
today? What will you do next
session to maintain your
performance or improve it?)

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 CRI 029: Institutional Corrections
Teacher’s Guide Module #2

Name: ________________________________________________Class Number: ____________________

Section: __________________ Class Schedule: ________________ Date: __________________________

FAQs
1. How has crime and punishment changed over time?
By the start of the 20th century, attitudes towards prisons began to change. Increasingly prisons were
seen as a punishment in themselves. The loss of liberty when in prison was enough of a punishment.
People began to see that the flogging, isolation and silence used in the 19th century were not working
and should be abandoned.
This change in attitude led to improvements in prisons, e.g. prisoners could wear their own clothes.
Prison food was improved, and more education courses were made available inside prisons. These aimed to
rehabilitate prisoners and give them skills to allow them to find useful employment after their release.

KEY TO CORRECTIONS
TRUE OR FALSE. Write TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if it is otherwise.
1. TRUE
2. TRUE
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE

TEACHER-LED ACTIVITIES:

In-classroom learning session:

1. Collect completed work in the SAS;

2. Allocate your contact time with students to individual or small group mentoring,
monitoring, and student consultations;
3. You may administer summative assessments (quizzes, demonstrations, graded
recitation, presentations, performance tasks) during face-to-face sessions;
4. You may also explore supplementary activities that foster collaboration,
provided that social distancing is observed; and

Sources:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com 
nhcp.gov.ph › the-history-of-the-first-philippine-assembly

Congratulations! That’s enough for today, for advanced research kindly look for the contemporary forms
of punishment.

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