Maria Theresa's reforms included improving prison conditions. Every prisoner could even have a private cell. However, she did not abolish the use of torture in the judiciary. Joseph II attempted it, but the results were not especially ideal. When the French ruled the Netherlands, they continued to pursue judicial reform and abolished torture.
The methods once used by the Inquisition were horrifying by historical standards, although the Pope said that the Inquisition of today was no longer what it had once been.
During the Witch Hunts that took place in the Qing Dynasty in 1768, provincial governors interrogated the arrested prisoners. Some places employed severe torture, causing prisoners to fabricate accusations in order to avoid further torment. Out of thin air, they invented supposed "ringleaders" such as "Zhang Siru" and "Ming Hai," wasting vast amounts of police resources and causing public panic.
Testimony obtained through torture obstructed judicial fairness. Anna Göldi, The Last Witch, was forced into confessing by the Inquisition and brutally beheaded. Her confession did not match the original records preserved by the court. If no one had exposed it, a single "witch" would not have drawn such enormous public attention. But because someone handed these materials to the newspapers, it sparked heated debate and opposition to the use of torture in the judiciary.
England had already abolished tortures such as the dunking chair, but prison authorities soon found other ways to torment prisoners. One of them was the treadmill.
There was a gentleman named Cupid who, while visiting a prison, found prisoners wandering about in groups with nothing to do. He considered it a waste of time and energy. After careful thought, he invented a device that automatically controlled the blades of a windmill. It resembled a waterwheel, but was very wide and could accommodate ten to