February 22, 2009

The Tucker Telephone was a torture device invented in Arkansas and used at the Tucker State Prison Farm (now the Tucker Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction) until the 1970s. The device consisted of a crank telephone wired with two batteries and electrodes. Once the electrodes were attached to the torture victim, the device was cranked, delivering a painful electrical shock. Similar devices have reportedly been used by U.S. forces during interrogation of Iraqi prisoners.