Acts 16:24

Acts 16:24. Thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. In a Roman prison there were usually three distinct parts (1) the communiora, where the prisoners light and fresh air; (2) the interiora, shut off by strong iron gates with bars and locks; (3) the tullianum or dungeon. The third was a place rather of execution or for one condemned to die. The prison in which Paul and Silas lay that eventful night at Philippi was probably a damp cold cell from which light was excluded.

The ‘stocks' alluded to was an instrument of torture as well as confinement. This instrument was a heavy piece of wood with holes, into which the feet were placed in such a manner that they were stretched widely apart so as to cause the sufferer great pain.

Eusebius, H. E. vi. 39, writes of the noble Origen's sufferings when, under an iron collar and in the deepest recesses of the prison, for many days he was stretched to the distance of four holes in the stocks (ξύλον, Lat. nervus) .