Workhouses included dormitories for people to sleep in, often with very primitive conditions, along with dining halls, chapels, and infirmaries. Because life in the workhouse was supposed to be humiliating and shameful, many of the rules of the workhouse focused on emphasizing this. Rations were typically poor, sometimes to the point of starvation, and people faced very harsh discipline. In some workhouses, residents were expected to be silent while in the workhouse, talking only at work or on the way to jobs.