
Rotary Jails - Clepsydra
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/10/rotary-jails.html
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g4rret
Tom Scott has made a video on this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGXHMOhXAw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGXHMOhXAw)

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cardiffspaceman
I was reminded of the panopticon [1] prison design paradigm. The rotary
controls the prisoners physically by only allowing one cell door to be open at
once, while the panopticon doesn't necessarily limit how many doors are open
at once. The rotary jail doesn't make it easier to watch the prisoners, while
the panopticon allows the wardens to convince the wards that they are always
watched.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon)

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andromeduck
You could in theory combine the two with the cells arranged in a rotating
barrel.

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tyingq
_" Why Brown and Haugh went the convoluted route and chose to rotate the cells
instead of the circular cage, is a mystery."_

Any guesses? It does seem like a dumb idea to rotate the massively
larger/heavier cells.

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jrootabega
Seems simpler to know exactly where the entrance is, relative to the entire
building. You could build a hallway off it.

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jamestimmins
This theoretically makes it usable in a smaller space, since you don't need a
hallway to run around the entire ring.

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desertrider12
If one person could rotate the whole thing with a crank, why couldn't the
prisoners do the same by holding the bars and pushing on the walls?

Anyway, this reminded me of the mechanical fortress from Myst.

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fake-name
There's a variety of motion mechanisms that can't be backdriven. A worm
drive[1] is a common one.

Alternatively, they could simply have a external lock on rotation that's
engaged when someone's not actively moving the cells.

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_drive)

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wcip
I'm curious as to how the plumbing worked in this system. Would seem difficult
to pipe water in a manner that can rotate like this.

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r00fus
This sounds inhumane and thus unlikely to happen in modern prison design
(which tbh is more of a jobs program these days than actually designing for
restitution or rehabilitation)

"The rotary jails had many design problems. For example, in the event of fire,
it was not possible to evacuate the inmates fast enough".

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choonway
Well, you could make it such that in event of a fire, the external cage would
drop down low enough to facilitate evacuation into a designated fenced up
area.

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moonbug
If this caught your imagination, you'll want to read the short story
"Manuscript Found in a Police State" by Brian Aldiss

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fhars
Aldiss also has described the Wheel of Kharnabar in "Helliconia Winter":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helliconia#Helliconia_Winter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helliconia#Helliconia_Winter)

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johngalt
It's always interesting to see the weird things that are designed after
technology advances but before it is optimized.

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brnt
Or, alternatively, horrible over-engineering for only a very slight benefit
(fewer guards), with huge externalized cost (prisoners feelings about living
in such a concoction, fire safety).

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ocdtrekkie
The externalized cost doesn't seem so bad if you don't care about prisoners'
feelings or if they die in a fire. Unfortunately, I think that mindset is
probably more common, especially historically, than many realize.

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bronlund
I got a real flashback to Wolfenstein: The New Order from this :D

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crb002
Iowa was one of the unethical states using them well into the 1960s. Shameful.

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rad_gruchalski
Wanted to block the cookies on this website. After flipping about 20 of the
pages off, I’ve noticed that the list contains probably more than a 100 3rd
party websites. Nope, bye.

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ljp_206
There's some kind of sickening scroll acceleration applied to this page,
making it exceedingly frustrating to use with a magic mouse. Not surprised due
to level of shit shoveled onto the site, but I have no idea why anybody would
want to subject their users to this.

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jontro
Also an ad appeared over the "I accept" cookie banner right before I was going
to click it.

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michaelmrose
On my end I saw 40 things blocked which must have included both all ads, that
cookie accept garbage, and any other nonsense. Ublock origin + firefox 71.
Even scrolling seemed to be pretty normal on the normal page although its even
nicer with one click to view in reader mode.

