Bread and water
In 2019, one of the oldest and most archaic punishments in the United States military — three days’ confinement on bread and water — will be no more. The Navy’s bread-and-water punishment for the most junior enlisted sailors has been eliminated in a new revision to the Uniform Code of Military Justice that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019.[Source 1]
It’s a change long in the making in the United States even though the punishment has been outlawed elsewhere for decades. For what are essentially misdemeanor offenses, service members can be punished by their commanding officers if the commander thinks that a preponderance of the evidence points to their guilt. The punishment is considered less severe than what would be doled out in a military trial, but the burden of proof for establishing guilt in these administrative hearings is also far lower.
Three days’ confinement on bread and water is considered the most severe administrative punishment possible in the Navy, and it may only be awarded to enlisted sailors in the three lowest pay grades. Once a sailor is promoted to the E-4 paygrade, that of a third-class petty officer, he or she cannot receive the draconian punishment.
The idea of confining people found guilty of relatively minor offenses and feeding them only plain bread and water for days at a time has been around for more than a century.
In August 1882, The New York Times reported that a United States Marine named Edgar B. Snow was convicted of falling asleep on guard duty in Portsmouth, N.H., and sentenced to a number of days imprisonment on bread and water — though just how many days is unclear, thanks to what appears to be a smudge in the printing plate. Evidently the punishment was not enough to set the young Marine straight. In November 1882, Private Snow, reportedly the grandnephew of the former President William Henry Harrison, was discharged from the Corps following conviction at court-martial for an unauthorized absence.
In 2019, one of the oldest and most archaic punishments in the United States military — three days’ confinement on bread and water — will be no more. On Christmas Day, my colleague Dave Philipps reported that the Navy’s bread-and-water punishment for the most junior enlisted sailors has been eliminated in a new revision to the Uniform Code of Military Justice that went into effect on Jan. 1.
It’s a change long in the making in the United States even though the punishment has been outlawed elsewhere for decades. For what are essentially misdemeanor offenses, service members can be punished by their commanding officers if the commander thinks that a preponderance of the evidence points to their guilt. The punishment is considered less severe than what would be doled out in a military trial, but the burden of proof for establishing guilt in these administrative hearings is also far lower.
Three days’ confinement on bread and water is considered the most severe administrative punishment possible in the Navy, and it may only be awarded to enlisted sailors in the three lowest pay grades. Once a sailor is promoted to the E-4 paygrade, that of a third-class petty officer, he or she cannot receive the draconian punishment.
The idea of confining people found guilty of relatively minor offenses and feeding them only plain bread and water for days at a time has been around for more than a century.
In August 1882, The New York Times reported that a United States Marine named Edgar B. Snow was convicted of falling asleep on guard duty in Portsmouth, N.H., and sentenced to a number of days imprisonment on bread and water — though just how many days is unclear, thanks to what appears to be a smudge in the printing plate. Evidently the punishment was not enough to set the young Marine straight. In November 1882, Private Snow, reportedly the grandnephew of the former President William Henry Harrison, was discharged from the Corps following conviction at court-martial for an unauthorized absence.
The bread-and-water treatment has also been applied to prisoners of war. In early 1945, more than 2,000 German prisoners of war held at Camp Perry, Ohio, received that punishment when they essentially went on strike. When 180 of the prisoners decided to stop working at the Crile General Hospital near Cleveland on Feb. 28, all 2,180 of the German P.O.W.s went on bread-and-water rations as punishment. Lt. Col. E.C. McCormick Jr., the prison-camp commander, said that the diet would be continued until the Germans “changed their minds.” Days later, under the headline “Bread and Water Subdue Nazis,” The Times reported that the prisoners notified McCormick that they were in fact ready to work once more.
The bread-and-water treatment has also been applied to prisoners of war. In early 1945, more than 2,000 German prisoners of war held at Camp Perry, Ohio, received that punishment when they essentially went on strike. When 180 of the prisoners decided to stop working at the Crile General Hospital near Cleveland on Feb. 28, all 2,180 of the German P.O.W.s went on bread-and-water rations as punishment. Lt. Col. E.C. McCormick Jr., the prison-camp commander, said that the diet would be continued until the Germans “changed their minds.” Days later, under the headline “Bread and Water Subdue Nazis,” The Times reported that the prisoners notified McCormick that they were in fact ready to work once more.
Sources
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