The Gag was typically an iron instrument which resembled the stiff part of a blind bridle for horses. It has an iron plate in the center and chains at each end which was passed around the neck and then fastened tightly behind. In many instances the iron gag was placed in prisoner’s mouths, with the iron plate over the tongue. It was forced into the mouth as far as possible, and the chains would wrap around the jaw and to the back of the neck. The hands would then fasten behind, and one would be sitting in a kneeling type position.[1] The gag restrains a prisoner from being able to talk, by keeping the tongue, lips, and jaw from moving. The gag often causes suffocation. Gags were used as a punishment technique inside prisons. Below, is a picture of what an iron gag looked like when being used inside a prison. The picture was taken from the Eastern Penitentiary in 1835.

[1]Meranze, Michael. "A Criminal Is Being Beaten: The Politics of Punishment and the History of the Body." In Possible Pasts: Becoming Colonial in Early America, edited by St. George Robert Blair, 302-24. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 2000. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv1fxmmf.18.