Consistency of Hell in "Lucifer"

Question

In the early seasons, Lucifer explained that his role was to punish people, often graphically explaining what that means. Maze was his "head torturer" and liked the physical pain she was responsible for.

As the series evolved, the concept of Hell has changed: it is now a place where people punish themselves (through their conscience) and could even leave Hell (but Lucifer has never seen anyone managing to do so).

Lucifer himself was stuck there twice, punishing himself the same way the other souls do: though his own choice. There is no mention of physical torture à la Botticelli.

Is this an inconsistency, or has something changed I missed (S01 → S05)

Answer 1

It can be bit of both:

People go to Hell, because they believe that they deserve to be punished.

In season 5, Lucifer visits one of the "cells" in Hell, where we can see some scary clowns. Later, we can see an assassin trying to kill a rich playboy. Lucifer addresses both the assassin and clowns as if they were his employees (IIRC, he tells the latter to "take the afternoon off"), which means that they are demons "working" on the damned in Hell.

So it is not a stretch of imagination that Maze would also work there as a more physical torturer, because people who believe that they deserve a punishment would indeed imagine that this punishment should take the traditonal form of whips, chains and red-hot poker.

It is worth to point, that in the comic series revolving around Lucifer ("Sandman", "Lucifer", "Hellraiser"), the tortures presented are mostly physical, although this might be caused by the art form (it is easier to drawn in the background someone on the torture rack than someone tortured by his conscience) and the target audience (the comic series are "for mature readers", while the tv series is TV-14)

Answer 2

This situation can occur both ways. It is your thoughts and regrets that lead to your torture in hell. This can all end if you "forgive yourself", but being constantly reminded of these problems would most likely be torture on its own. This is most likely why no one has escaped hell except Maze and Lucifer.