#sweat boxes

[scripttorture]

My character has severe claustrophobia and freaks out when she hears loud noises. So to torture her, her captors are just keeping her in a very small room (6x6x6) and making sure there’s constantly loud noises around such as yelling, machinery, etc. They then say that they didn’t actually do anything bc they didn’t actively hurt her. My questions are 1. Would this even be torture? 2. Is this problematic in the way I portray torture? She’ll have insomnia, panic attacks, auditory hallucinations.

Thiswould certainly be torture and it would actively hurt her but- yesthere is a problematic element here.

Essentiallytorturers have no way of knowing a victim’s phobias in advance.Because of the way torture destroys an organisation’s capacity forcollecting accurate information the chances of torturers finding outsomething like this is virtually impossible. And this kind ofscenario, where a victim’s deepest fears are specificallytargetted, is often used to portray torturers as much more competentthen they are in reality.

Ithink there are a couple of ways you could eliminate that element inyour story so that you could still use this scenario.

Thesimplest way is this: the tortures are not targetted specifically atthis one victim. Every person the torturers abuse is treated thisway. This character is just unlucky enough to be particularlyvulnerable to these tortures.

Themore complicated way is to devise a scenario that will let thetorturers find out about the character’s phobias after she’scaptured. If you think the character is naive enough to beg them notto do these specific things to her when she’s threatened withtorture- that could work.

OtherwiseI’d suggest creating a scenario that lets the torturers see she’sbadly effected by loud noise. And another that lets them see she’sbadly effected by confined spaces. These scenarios would have to beincredibly, blindingly obvious.

Personally?I would favour the first scenario and the idea these torturers treateveryone this way.

It’smore realistic and it avoids any chance of suggesting that this is‘less damaging’ or only bad because the character has thesephobias. If the torturers do this to everyone that means they expecteveryone to be hurt by this kind of abuse. Which neatly avoids thesuggestion that this is somehow ‘harmless’.

Attackslike this would usually involve locking someone in a ‘box’ for anextended period of time. Which could be anything from around 10 hoursto 48 hours.

Thiswas especially common with police torture in many different countries(it’s most extensively studied in the US) and a lot of old jailsactually had specially built ‘rooms’ for this. They were oftentoo small to sit or lie down in and were sometimes right next to thebuilding’s boiler, making them incredibly hot.

Theseare actually several tortures happening simultaneously.

Thefirst is something a bit like a restraint torture: the victim insidethe ‘box’ has enough freedom of movement that they’re not in astress position but their movement is sufficiently reduced thatthey’re constantly uncomfortable and in pain. The second is atemperature torture caused by the heat from the boiler. The third issleep deprivation caused by the dimensions of the box, thetemperature and the noise from the boiler.

Thiswas all often combined with starvation, dehydration and inadequatehygiene facilities.  

Thecell in your scenario is big enough that this isn’t a positionaltorture. But the noisy machinery means that it isgoing to cause sleep deprivation and it could be a temperaturetorture as well. If the roomis very close to the machinery and it’s large machinery there’s agood chance the room would heat up while the machinery is running.

Ina cramped space that sort of heat can get trapped. The room canquickly become painfully hot and stuffy.

Atthe very least I’d expect a normal person to develop an awfulheadache within an hour of being locked in this sort of room.

Ifthe room is hot and they’re not given water then I’d expect someof the symptoms of dehydration to be apparent: headaches, confusion,dizziness, pain and tiredness. If the character was kept there foranything up to 12 hours I think symptoms of sleep deprivation wouldbe likely as well.

Thephysical symptoms include shakes, headaches, muscular pain, poorreaction times, poor coordination, poor reflexes and a higher chanceof accidents. That combines with confusion, memory loss, reducedconcentration, reduced ability to recognise other people’semotions, an assumption other people are hostile, difficultremembering new information, and impairments to logic, creativity,planning and problem solving.

Theseare tortures. They’re incredibly common ones. And the fact they’re‘clean’ (non scarring) tortures means they’re often incrediblydifficult to prove.As a result survivors of these kinds of tortures are often denied services and a chance at justice.

Cellslike the one you described aren’t used often any more because thecell itself is obvious. But the same tortures are still being used,the method is the only thing that’s changed.

Thisis torture. It’sincredibly painful and damaging. That would apply to anyone, not justa character with these specific phobias.

Givingyour character insomnia and panic attacks in the long term seemsplausible to me. They’re both common long term symptoms.

Ithink you should try reading some of @scripttraumasurvivors’s blogbefore committing to auditory hallucinations as a long term symptom.Some survivors with PTSD do hallucinate but not every one does andhallucinations are often portrayed very badly in fiction. It’sworth taking the time to read up on them before deciding if that’sa symptom you want to use long term.

Inthe short term sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, includingauditory hallucinations. However this would be unusual if thecharacter had been in sleep deprived for less then 24 hours. (Acharacter who hadn’t been getting enough sleep before beingconfined could start hallucinating sooner).

Ihope this helps. :)

Availableon Wordpress.

Disclaimer

[scripttorture]

Any ideas on what might happen to a captured British agent in Germany ca. WW1? She is female, and being interrogated rather than put on trial. She’s not meant to be killed at least for a while as she is considered an asset. The interrogation won’t work, and she won’t give up any info. She also does escape with the help of someone inside, so retaining some physical capacity to move pretty fast would be significant. Thanks!

Thisis a really good amount of information thank you. :)

Ihave less information on German practices during World War 1 so thisone took a little bit of reading. In fact I didn’t manage to findanything German from this period (though I think Cobain covers British torture during this period in Cruel Britannia). What I’ve got is bits and piecesfrom either side. Between that and your criteria I think we can workout something that fits. :)

Rejalireferences a book on the Weimar Republic that you might find useful.I haven’t read it myself. TheBerlin Police Force in the Weimar Republicby L Hsi-Huey, 1970 University of California Press.

I’vefound references to clean beating and ‘sweating’ in the periodbetween the wars. This was in a policing context rather than amilitary one.

Sweatingin this context means a combination of sleep deprivation, sometimesrestraint torture and temperature torture. I’ve mostly heard of itused in policing contexts. It’s- putting a suspect in a chair witha big bright light in their eyes and keeping them there for over 12hours. Sometimes suspects were restrained, which causes additionalpain and injury. ‘Interrogators’ were often changed so that theyremained fully rested. Suspects were usually denied food, water andbathroom breaks. Rooms were usually small. So the lights would heatup the room very quickly making everything uncomfortably hot.

Itseems(going by frequency of reports) to have been more common in Americanpolicing then in Germany during the Weimar government. From what Ican tell there seems to have been a crack down on police tortureduring the Weimar period. A couple of my sources have Nazi torturerscommenting on that, that the Weimar government ‘didn’t allow’things that became common practice later.

Oneuseful reference I’ve found from the second world war is to use ofa ‘sweat box’. This a cell so small that it’s essentially abox. Now the reason I think that could be relevant to you is becausethese were solid built structures. It could certainly have beenspecially built closer to the time, but it could also have been anolder structure that was never disassembled. They are just very verysmall rooms and can be put to a great many innocent uses. It's easierto take locks off doors then it is to bulldoze walls.

Goingback muchlater, Germany was one of the first European countries to abolishcorporal punishment (whipping and obvious beating) in the military(1872).

Theyreplaced it with stress positions. The only description I have is forsomething called ‘das Anbinden’. The translation I have for thatis ‘tying up’.

Thevictim was tied with their back to a fixed object, like a tree orpole. It was forced standing, with both feet flat on the ground. Sofar as I can tell the victim’s hands weren’tabove their head, and the reference to using trees makes it seemunlikely their arms were spread as in British military stresspositions. I’m guessing a little here but it seems most likely fromthe descriptions I have that the victims were tied with their handsbehind their backs.

That’swhat I’ve found that I think could fit your scenario. None of itcomes from the exact time period but these techniques were all usedin Germany either a few decades before or a few decades after. It’sa grab-bag mix of police torture and military torture rather thanspecific to the intelligence services. But if Germany fit the generalpattern at this time then there would have been a lot of overlapbetween the torture techniques used in all those groups.

They’realso all ‘clean’ tortures. They don’t necessarily leave obviousexternal marks.

Fromthe point of view of an intelligence agency that could be useful. Itprovides a degree of ‘plausible’ deniability, a way for them todismiss any future claims of mistreatment.

Moreon that here.

Generallytorturers tend to use a combination of techniques rather thansticking to just one. I tend to suggest 3-4 techniques and this justabout fits that range. The timings would be important here though.

Theusual maximum time a victim is kept in a stress position is about 48hours. That’s because after that more victims start dying.

Stresspositions kill by causing the muscles to break down under pressure.As more and more muscles die they release proteins into thebloodstream and this eventually builds to a level the kidneys can’thandle. The kidneys fail and the victim dies.

Priorto that- These are incredibly painful. It’s a sort of deep muscularache which, in this case, is likely to affect just about every partof the body. The break down of muscles also releases a lot of fluidwhich builds up in the extremities. In a standing stress position theankles can swell to twice their size in 24 hours. They take on abruised, tend appearance, hurt a lot and the skin can stretch so muchit ‘pops’ forming ulcers.

Bearin mind that victims usually aren’t allowed to use the bathroom andulcers are therefore a potential source of infection.

Sweatboxes can have a similar effect ornot depending on the dimensions of the box and the person. Whenvictims have a greater range of movement the muscles aren’t underthe same kind of permanent strain. It’s still extremely painful butless likely to be life threatening in 48 hours.

Somesweat boxes looked like cupboards for cleaning equipment, a smallnarrow space someone could stand in without being able to comfortablysit. Some were more like boxes that forced someone into a crouch,where they couldn’t lie down flat or stand up.

Theycould all have significant problems with air flow and temperaturecontrol. Depending on the placement in the building they were oftenextremely hot or cold. Which was another form of temperature tortureto subject the victim too. Poor air circulation sometimes meantvictims passed out or flat out suffocated.

Iwouldn’t suggest having the character in a sweat box for more than24 hours.

Beaware that beating, stress positions and sweat boxes are all damagingthe muscles. So they’re all contributing to the possibility ofkidney failure.  Giving the character periods to rest and recover isabsolutely essential to her survival.

AndI think that might be the best way to approach her escape; timing itso it’s right at the end of a longer recovery period. Perhaps aslong as 24 hours.

Ifshe’d been held for a week or so at that point, had been beaten,sweated, had been in a stress position for 48 hours, had been in asweat box for 24, with recovery periods- then I’d expect hermovement and reaction times to still be effected. She would not be ontop form. But, so long as she hadn’t been beaten to the point offractures, and had had 24 hours to sleep and eat and drink- Then Ithink she’d be able to walk and run. She might have the occasionalstruggle with balance. Her feet might be numb. She wouldn’t be asfast or coordinated as normal and she’d be able to notice that. ButI think she’d be able to do what you’d need her to do.

Lookingback over this I think the only thing I haven’t talked about muchis the effects of sleep deprivation in sweating. Again it’spainful. It’s also incredibly disorientating. It’s difficult toconcentrate, follow sentences and think clearly. People tend tobecome much more emotional and bursting into tears is pretty common.

Hallucinationsare also quite common. Combined with the bright light I think shadowyshapes and halos seem very possible.

Keepin mind that in a hot confined space dehydration is also at playhere. Which could be effecting her vision, causing head aches, lightheadedness and adding to the delirious feeling sleep deprivation iscausing.

Beyondthat-

Rememberto show the psychological effect this has on her in the long term.And remember that some of those symptoms can have profound physicaleffects which weren’t entirely understood at the time.

She’sunlikely to be diagnosed with ‘shell shock’ simply because she’sa woman. But her expressions of distress might be seen as more‘socially acceptable’ in some sense because of her gender.Physical symptoms such as shaking, nausea, difficulty eating, anyeffect on sexual desire, panic attacks and pain, could all be treatedas purelyphysical.

Thatdoesn’t mean she’d be without a support network or cut off fromhelp. Just that the kind of help she’s offered would look verydifferent to what’s on offer today.

Asa final note, if you’ve got the time you might want to read TheUnpleasantness at the Bellona Clubby Dorothy L Sayers. It was written in 1928 and deals with mentalillness at several points. It could serve as some inspiration for howto handle the character’s mental health problems in a periodsetting.

Ihope that helps. :)

Disclaimer