Acts 16:24

“Who having received such a charge, etc.] So strict an one from the magistrates, was doubly careful and diligent: thrust them into the inner prison: the innermost part of it, the lowest or furthest part of the prison; so that there were the more doors, bolts, and bars, to break open, and pass through, should they attempt to make their escape: and made their feet fast in the stocks; or “wood”, a wooden machine, in which the feet of prisoners were put for security, and which we call “the stocks”; some say it was such an one, in which the neck as well as the feet were put, and so might be the same with our “pillory”.”

“made their feet fast in the stocks--an instrument of torture as well as confinement, made of wood bound with iron, with holes for the feet, which were stretched more or less apart according to the severity intended. (ORIGEN at a later period, besides having his neck thrust into an iron collar, lay extended for many days with his feet apart in the rack). Though jailers were proverbially unfeeling, the manner in which the order was given in this case would seem to warrant all that was done.”

“Thrust them into the inner prison - Into the most retired and secure part of the prison. The cells in the interior of the prison would be regarded as more safe, being doubtless more protected, and the difficulty of escape would be greater. And made their feet fast in the stocks - Greek: and made their feet secure to wood. The word “stocks,” with us, denotes a machine made of two pieces of timber between which the feet of criminals are placed, and in which they are thus made secure. The account here does not imply necessarily that they were secured precisely in this way, but that they were fastened or secured by the feet, probably by cords, to a piece or beam of wood, so that they could not…”

“Secured their feet in the stocks - These were probably those large pieces of wood, in use among the Romans, which not only loaded the legs of the prisoner, but also kept them extended in a very painful manner. Acts 16:25”

“the inner: Kg1 22:27; Jer 37:15, Jer 37:16, Jer 38:26; Lam 3:53-55 and made: Ch2 16:10 \*Heb: Job 13:27, Job 33:11; Psa 105:18; Jer 20:2, Jer 29:26 Acts 16:25”