[CW: Reference to juridical corporal punishment and other violence]

Tristan was deeply uncomfortable when the guard left. He pitied the young inmate, who looked like he had been half-starved. But Tristan, though tall, was not exactly athletic either. If the inmate had gotten into a fight with another inmate, he might try to attack a doctor too. He observed the injuries the young man referred to, but he was hyper alert, ready to move away at any moment.

Then the young man's next words sunk in. He stepped back and looked the young man in the face, frowning. "Are you being honest?" He knew that men could be flogged in prison, which was why he had stopped working there. And the police could birch a boy if the Magistrate so decided. It was an abomination, in Tristan's eyes, but at least in those cases there were rules and procedures, safety regulations! The idea that prison guards could just beat the living daylight out of prisoners and that this was a common thing... That had to be reported!