Engraving entitled 'An Interior View of A Jamaica House of Correction' with text below: 'The Whipping of Females, you were informed by me, oficially, was in practice, and I called upon you to make enactments to put an end to conduct so repugnant to humanity, and so Contrary to Law. So far from passing and Act to prevent the recurrence of such cruelty, you have in no way expressed your disapprobation of it. I communicated to you my opinion, and that of the Secretary of State of the injustice of cutting off the hair of females in the House of Correction, previous to trial. You have paid no attention to [illegible].'

On the reverse is the written inscription: ‘Speech of the Marquis of Sligo to the Jamaican House of Assembly in Feby 18-- [illegible]’.

This engraving has been trimmed, losing part of the text, and applied to paper.

Punishment and indignity were crucial means by which the planters attempted to keep the enslaved subservient. Many different forms of punishment were employed, from the use of masks and gags to the whip and the treadmill. This print dates from the point at which slavery had just been abolished. However, abolition in 1834 did not immediately free those who were already enslaved – they had to endure a further four years known as the ‘apprenticeship’ before emancipation. Punishments were still widely used, despite pressure on the colonial assembly to legislate against such acts. The treadmill was particularly exhausting and made even more demeaning for the fact that it produced nothing.