NOT exactly "spankings" as requested in this old zombie thread, but prison discipline nonetheless can be found in my recent post in SS:
Strict Spanking Stories Now this is a letter supposedly written by an English doctor to a friend in London describing his recent visit to a Russian women's prison. This "letter" written in
1880 was published by a Frenchman named
Jean de Villiot in
1900. While there exists an old English translation, (I have only seen small excerpts) I took the trouble to translate into modern English.
Again, the discipline described in the letter is NOT "spanking", but it clearly is
corporal punishment of a rather severe nature. Next, the issue is whether what's described is typical of Russian prison discipline or just a figment of Jean de Villiot's imagination.
What makes the question even interesting is the fact that during the letter's date, AND the publication date, Russia was ruled by the Czar and his aristocrats. Further, there are other works describing similar punishments dispensed in other authoritarian regimes at the same time period. So, this was not as "uncommon" as one would think.
In closing, whether the letter was "real" and Jean de Villiot "borrowed it" or whether it was strictly fiction, we'll never know. After some 120 years the trail is quite cold.
Tired