The shower bath, as mentioned in the story of a formerly incarcerated man named John Taylor, was a form of punishment used in Sing Sing Prison.  According to the Prison Discipline Society, essentially the prisoner was strapped to a chair while a reservoir of cold water is poured on his head.  The water was recorded to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and its force when hitting the head of the prisoner was equal to a column of water seventy-two inches high when the reservoir was full.  The recorded effects of the cold water ranged from uncontrollable chills and shivering, to instant death.  Prisoners dreaded this punishment, so much so that the psychological effects of the threat of the shower-bath were sometimes sufficient punishment,

“This psychological effect is so great upon some individuals before entering the stocks, and a palor so deathlike is induced, that the officer on duty dares not subject the offender to this ordeal.”¹

The physical effects of this punishment were incredibly severe.  Prisoners subjected to the cold water would suffer from muscle cramps for months after the shower-bath due to the reaction of the muscles when they came in contact with such cold water.  The Prison Discipline Society reported a number of cases in which prisoners were severely physically injured from exposure to the shower-bath, all of which highlight the brutality of this form of punishment.  A major problem with the execution of the shower-bath was the keepers’ inability to determine when the prisoner had been sufficiently punished, often the prisoners presented no sign of objection and appeared frozen in place,

“In matters within his comprehension, this keeper had good judgement, and withal was of a humane disposition, but of either the temperament or idiosyncrasy of the convict he knew nothing, and consequently was incapable of wielding judiciously a means so powerful.”²

The report concluded that the shower-bath was such a harsh form of punishment that it could only realistically used a few times on prisoners.  Physical effects that its victim’s suffered were long lasting and detrimental, and being exposed to that kind of trauma repeatedly would not have been sustainable. 

Sources:

1. Prison Discipline Society. Twenty Third Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society (Boston, MA: T.R. Marvin, 1848), 716.

2. Twenty Third, 717.