Treadmills are one of the most popular types of exercise equipment today. Sales in the United States have grown steadily since 2009 and the annual sale of treadmills surpassed $1 million USD in 2014. But has walking and running on the treadmill always been a trendy way to exercise? Not at all. The preferred choice for voluntary exercise today was once a punishment imposed on prisoners. In the 19th century, British and American prisons introduced the treadmill as a method to punish "idle" inmates. Invented as both a punishment and a reform method for convicts, the penal treadmill of the 19th century was a massive machine composed of moving stairs. Around a dozen inmates could climb at the same time and the punishment went on for hours every day, with only a few minutes of rest in between.
The long walk to reform:
- Initially not of any practical use besides punishment, penal treadmills were later used to grind grain or power water pumps.
- Oscar Wilde was required to walk the treadmill during his sentence at Pentonville Prison.
- Penal treadmills were abolished in Britain in 1902 when they were deemed to be too cruel of a punishment.