This story details the way that I had to pay for crimes I committed--as I chose Judicial Corporal Punishment over possible prison.
It was the last Saturday of March 1998, late afternoon as I stood before the court--dressed in a pair of cut off jeans, a t shirt and tennis shoes. I was guilty--knowing full well that I was there to be sentenced for the crimes of two counts of forgery and two counts of writing bad checks. I knew that I deserved to go to prison, but in an agreement with the victims of my crimes, I had surrendered myself to the commitee to set and execute an appropriate punishment rather than face a prison sentence.
I had prepared a complete confession for the judge to review and had signed a waiver--knowing that the punishment would be corporal in nature--and though frightened, I was resigned to suffer a painful whipping on my bottom-- thinking about what twenty strokes with a cane--my idea of a fair sentence--would do to my bare hide. Boy, I was scared.
The judge asked me if I had anything to say in my defence, and I took a deep breath and replied that there were no facts that could help me escape what needed to be done. At that point, the judge declared me guilty of all charges and ordered the guards to put me in custody. My hands were cuffed behind my back and my ankles were put in chains--then the judge began his lecture on the callousness and insensitivity of my crimes--frightening me even more with his intense anger towards me, I could feel my buttocks squirming in my pants, feeling ready to start crying--then the lecture was over.
"Do you have anything that you want to say prior to me passing sentence on you?" The judge was stern.
"No, Sir."
"It is the decision of this court that you shall be remanded to a cell to wait while the preparations are made to punish you. In one hour, you shall be returned to this room and secured to a rack, at which time your punishment shall be carried out.
"On the first charge of forgery, I sentence you to suffer fifty strokes with the cane upon your bare buttocks. On the second charge of forgery, I sentence you to suffer sixty strokes with the cane upon your bare buttocks. On the first charge of writing bad checks, I sentence you to twenty lashes with the cat across your back. On the second charge of writing bad checks, I sentence you to twenty lashes with a leather strap across your thighs. Upon completion of your whipping, you shall be confined to a cell for the night so that you cannot quickly soothe your welts.
"May God give you the strength to suffer your punishment with dignity. Take the prisoner away."
The guards then took my arms and helped my quivering chained body to a holding cell in the basement where I was stripped completely to my tight, Fruit of the Loom briefs and I was given a bucket and roll of toilet paper to void my bowels and bladder prior to being taken up to the rack that was being prepared to hold my body.
I spent an hour quivering and crying and wishing that I had never considered my act of thievery--wondering how the cane would feel.
I had spent a lot of time reading about canings--about the reaction of the criminal to the cane being laid across his rear the first few times as he would buck on the rack and scream. I had read about the damage done to the bottom--and I would just become more frightened.
Finally, it was time to go and the guards came down and placed me back in chains, then assisted me back up stairs. I was covered with sweat, my hair matted down as they marched me to a saw horse in the middle of the room. As they stood me before the horse, they removed the chains from my ankles, and then took hold of the blue and gold wasteband of my underpants and pulled them down to my ankles. I was then ordered to step out of them which I did. My mouth was so dry, and the crying was coming back again, salty tears stinging my cheeks..
The guards then directed my ankles to the legs of the horse and using leather straps, each ankle was secured to the appropriate leg--spreading my feet and of course also spreading my butt cheeks.
Then, one of the guards went around to the other side of the horse while the other guard released the handcuffs from behind my back. He gently pushed my back down so that my chest was laying across the top of the horse and my hands were reaching down to the floor. As one guard secured each wrist to a leg of the horse the other guard secured a strap across my back to hold me down on the horse's crossbeam. This made sure that my knees were bent and my bottom was well bent and open to receive justice. A collar was then put around my neck with chains reaching down to the horse feet that my wrists were secured to. The only part of my body that I could move slightly were my buttocks which could twitch slightly to the left or right, but because of the acute angle of my legs and torso, my buttocks were unable to do any clenching.