Prison officers and trusties then jumped up and down on their backs, kicked them, beat them with canes and batons. Sometimes a gauntlet was formed, and prisoners had to crawl along while being beaten. Some groups, in addition, were forced to run around the prison courtyard, in a circle, with officers and trusties stationed at various points and whipping them with leather straps as they passed. Prisoners, on being registered, were asked for their names. They replied in normal, Western fashion and were beaten for it with canes.
Egyptian fashion is different.
One prisoner who put his hands on the table while being registered was beaten with particular severity. On a number of occasions individual prisoners supposed to have committed a fault were taken out of the cell and lashed with palm fronds, often slightly wet, so as to draw blood. Twenty or thirty lashes were not uncommon. One man was forced down on hands and knees in such fashion that the officer could cane the soles of his feet, and was seriously injured. As punishment for having manufactured playing cards for themselves, from such scraps as came to hand, one group of five younger men were ordered to stand up with their backs against the cell door.