How did it feel to be force fed in jail? Kitty Marion, a woman suffragist describes the process and her body’s reaction to being forcibly fed.
Her crime? Passing out birth control literature.
How It Feels to be Forcibly Fed
Told By Woman Put Through Operation 250 Times
“Forcible feeding is the most hellish torture to which a human could be subjected,” says Kitty Marion, exiled English militant suffragist, who was forcibly fed 250 times in England.
For the first time in history a woman has been forcible fed in jail in the United States in an effort to break a hunger strike. Mrs. Ethel Byrne of New York, sentenced to 30 days at the Blackwell’s Island jail for distribution of birth control information, and pardoned by Gov. Whitman on Thursday, was fed by force after she refused to eat for five days.
Miss Marion says hunger strikes and forcible feeding she experienced in English jails have greatly impaired her life. She has been exiled from England because she is of German descent and is earning her living in New York working as a domestic servant.
“I cannot think how human beings, especially those who call themselves civilized, can resort to forcible feeding,” said Miss Marion.
“And the practice will do no good. It has never succeeded. Women who hunger strike always have to be released.
“I was forcible fed 232 times in a period of 14 weeks’ imprisonment in England. I had four imprisonments with forcible feeding and two hunger strikes in addition.
“At first the doctors and war dresses forced me into a sitting position in a chair for the feeding. Later on they forced me down upon a bed. In the feeding the victim resists, but is overpowered.
“When one is helpless, the doctors force a nasal tube through the nose until it reaches the stomach, which, of course, is a most horrible operation. Vomiting and retching begin at once.
“But when the tube is forced down into the stomach, they pour food down. Most of it comes back as fast as they pour it down. Sometimes the tube is forced into the windpipe instead of into the stomach, and the food is poured into the lungs instead of the stomach.
“That is what happened to me in Birmingham once, and I was in the hospital and helpless for several days.
“The nasal passage becomes much inflamed and it is at times impossible to force the tube through. Then the other nostril is tried.
“If there is a tooth missing, a steel instrument is used to force the jaws apart, and a steel gag is screwed into the mouth; then a somewhat larger tube is forced down through the mouth into the stomach.”
Source: The day book. (Chicago, Ill.), 03 Feb. 1917.
