•
Crown Prince Sado of Joseon was executed by being forced into a rice box in July 1762. • The technique was used by
prisons in the
Southern United States until late in the 19th century and as punishment during times of slavery. • The technique, then known as the "sweat box", was used for punishments in the
Union Army during the
American Civil War. • The
Tarrafal camp, in
Cape Verde, used a small windowless shack as a form of torture against prisoners, most of them convicted of conspiring against
Salazar's regime in
Portugal. • The
North Vietnamese Army used the technique at the infamous
Hanoi Hilton. • In 2008, it was revealed that the
U.S. military was detaining
Iraqi prisoners in wooden crates, arousing concern of their use as hotboxes. • The
CIA claims that the
Chinese government has used "extreme heat" and "sweating" against
dissidents. • Use of a "sweatbox" has also been reported as a method of punishment in North Korean concentration camps, notably in
Kang Chol-hwan's book
The Aquariums of Pyongyang. • In 2009,
Marcia Powell, a prisoner at
Arizona State Prison Complex – Perryville, United States, died of heat exposure after being placed in an outdoor cage for four hours. • In December 2025,
Amnesty International reported the use of a x cage being used at
Alligator Alcatraz. Inmates are placed in the small cage, shackled to the bottom and left in the hot sun for many hours without water, and was referred to by the report as torture. == See also ==