Acts 16:23,24

‘And when they had laid many stripes on them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.'

The beating that they were given was not a mild one (‘many stripes') and then, in view of the serious nature of the charge, that they had been seeking to lead Romans astray from their worship of Roma and of the other gods of Rome, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. They had to be seen as taking such a charge seriously. Being a Jew was not illegal, but trying to turn Romans from the worship of Roma and the emperor was. They dared not ignore such a charge.

The prison would probably be a specially adapted private residence. Many prisons in those days were private enterprises, and the jailers, who owned the prisons, were often ex-soldiers. They were paid by the authorities to look after prisoners for the state, and were held fully and personally responsible for the secure holding of any such prisoners. It may well have been only for temporary prisoners to be kept in while awaiting charge and only have held a few prisoners.

Recognising the seriousness of the charge, the jailer was so concerned to keep them safe that he set their feet in stocks in the ‘inner prison'. This was probably a strongly built underground room in his prison house. But while intent on keeping them safe he was not so concerned to attend to their wounds. They were just another two troublemakers. He was a hard man who had lived a hard life, a man whom nothing could move, and he was used to injury and blood. No doubt they would survive, he would think causally. Prisoners usually did.