(Author's notes: A play depicting judicial caning was recently staged in the Republic of Singapore by a local theatrical repertory. The sell-out play forms the basis of the following quasi-fictional account. This is the first part.)
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The Executioner arrived for the interview right on time. This was pleasantly surprising since I had been warned that Asians were notorious for not observing specified time.
Mr. Abdoul Rashad was a rugged man in his mid-forties. His loose uniform did nothing to camouflage a chest that was heavy-laden with herculean bulks and dangerous-looking biceps that rippled through his sleeves. Mr. Abdoul met me at the visitor's lounge, which I noted was in a secluded part of the building, but was brightly lit by functional white electric lights. The spacious room was spick and span. There was no trace of dust or chewing gum remnants that characterized public institutions. We were at the state-owned penitentiary. Mr. Abdoul shook my hand in a firm and friendly grip, and invited me to take a seat, speaking in his immaculate English. I was again pleasantly surprised. I settled as comfortably as I could into the plain wooden chair. Abdoul expressed some reservation about my cassette recorder on the table but voiced no objection to the interview being taped.
I asked him first how it all began for him. "And describe your first caning job," I added.
"Five of us were selected by the governor for the job of executing a judicial caning," my newest luminary began the interview in a tone that was enthusiastic and candid. "That was eight years ago. The qualifications were simple: we had to be certified prison warders with at least a ten-year attachment to a county penitentiary. Our record must be above reproach and this included our work ethos and a flawless health and behavior track record.
"We sat for tests in the first two weeks of our training. These were comprehensive but mentally grueling IQ, EQ and aptitude tests. Four of us passed this stage of our training. The fifth decided voluntarily that he was not suited for the job. After that, for half a year, we were put through a rigorous bout of physical, theoretical, practical and psychological training to equip us for our new appointment. The physical training included two hours' daily workout at the gym to build our muscles and get us in shape. We attended lectures that grounded us in the policies, precepts, principles, and psychology governing corporal punishment. These lectures were held everyday as well. And about twice a week, we submitted ourselves to psychological training and evaluation to prepare us emotionally for what was a demanding role from the humanitarian and ideological points of view.
"I found the practical aspect of my entire training the most interesting but it tested my emotions beyond the bounds of tolerance. We trained with a life-sized male dummy. It even had a name, 'Kit'. Kit was wholly made of polymer, sawdust and cotton, but at a push of his belly button, he would emit sounds of crying and screaming so lifelike as to raise all the goose bumps on our limbs.
"The practical was always made to be as true to life as possible. We went through the complete routine of carrying out a judicial caning. We practised caning on Kit's backside with a variety of implements. By this, I mean, we were trained to maneuver canes of different sizes and lengths to our advantage. The canes' thickness and length had an effect on how we swung them and how much force was channeled to the swing. It was not always the same. This aspect was the trickiest to master.
"Our supervisors took pains to ensure we suppressed nothing of our might in wielding the canes. This was a requisite of our psychological preparation: our convictions about corporal punishment must be uncompromising and positive before we were accepted to be executioners.
"There was also no room for weaknesses because they allowed that pithy margin of error where a caning job could be botched. If we had an aversion to splitting Kit's backside, we were considered to have failed the day's lesson, and we had to repeat it.
"I graduated along with my three colleagues that year, and I was entrusted with my first duty a month later.
"My very first prisoner was a man about half my age. He was native-born and had been convicted of molesting a boy, a minor, in a most despicable manner. This constituted statutory rape, in addition to the fact that sodomy had been committed, and sodomy was outlawed here. It is not true what you would think - people in Asia do not let _s_e_x_ crimes on children go unpunished. Perhaps in the past, men could demand _s_e_x_ from their sons and daughters and it did not constitute rape or offending the civil laws. But that was in the past, and admittedly what our forebears had done to their wives and children was reprehensible.
"But to return to my story: Davyn was a certifiable pederast, and my first prisoner had been sentenced to receive eight strokes of the cane. I had been given my duty a week before the punishment was scheduled to be delivered, and had had adequate time to prepare emotionally and physically for my task. I had been given a thirteen-page prescription of my duty, the procedures, my subject, his offense, and the implement I must use.
"I first met Davyn at the infirmary on the morning of his caning. We were not introduced. It was better this way - we were not encouraged to consort with the prisoners, for attempting even a harmless friendship was not worth the risk of an emotional attachment and scandal later on.
"Davyn was completely naked under the prison doctor's examination. His hair, both on his head and crotch, was still damp which meant he had had his shower. This was part of the proceedings and the prisoner's only right. The prisoner must have eaten, excreted and showered prior to his caning.
"The proceedings also included ensuring that the prisoner was fit for his caning. Apropos to this, two qualified doctors examined Davyn's heart and pulse rate. These were on the institution's panel of doctors. Not long after, Davyn was pronounced fit for caning and the relevant signatures were mutually retained on the official forms and papers. Davyn was delivered to his warders to be prepared for his caning, which was to take place in my hands in two hours.
"There was a small circle of witnesses in the indoor caning arena when the time arrived. In addition to my presence, there were always the governor, the Warden, about two or three warders, two doctors and two other officials who kept the records or acted as photographers. The prisoner's parents and the family of the wronged party were also always invited to witness. Sometimes they accepted, but most of the time, they declined, opting rather to see the official photographs later. There must always be photographs to document that the sentence had been carried out as pronounced.
"Today, Davyn's parents and the family of the boy victim were all present. We were already seated down when Davyn was presented to us. He was escorted, by his arms, by two warders. He was clad only in a towel around his groin; otherwise he was naked and barefooted. His eyes were downcast the entire time. All his body language suggested that he was feeling most ashamed because he was about to be publicly caned naked.
"The warders stood Davyn about three feet from the trestle facing us. Davyn's cane, of medium size, two feet long, a quarter inch thick and made of rattan, rested flat in my clenched fists across my lap. I made an improvised analysis of Davyn's form at this time. I already knew how much force to apply to punish his buttocks with the severity that befitted his crime. I had been informed that my prisoner was 5 feet 9 inches tall, which was the average height of our men, and weighed 160 pounds.
"You seem surprised? So many myths surrounding my people, but it's true - owing to improved health and knowledge of nutrition, our present generation of boys and girls is bigger and stronger; but they're not quite par occidental. Give us another millennium and we may produce Amazonians.
"I'm sorry; I have digressed. To get back to my first job: the preliminaries must always be conducted. Davyn's offense and sentence were read out. Shortly after, I was called to approach the trestle. My name was not used, and has never been used, for reasons of maintaining anonymity and ensuring my protection.
"Meanwhile the warders had already confiscated Davyn's towel, leaving his groin exposed to us. Like all our men, Davyn's penis and testicles were of average size. His penis, which hung from a triangle of thick black hair, was flaccid, slender and three inches long. His testicles were oval, hairless and a healthy mauve color. Davyn's chest was muscular and smooth but he had hairy thighs and legs. His limbs were a bounty of gym-toned muscles. As per my role, I closely observed my prisoner's being bound to the trestle, which was an A-shaped wooden frame where the apex served to secure his wrists. I helped to ensure that his buttocks, now turned towards the witnesses, were raised at a level that made them a clear target for the cane.
"Safety paddings were next wrapped around Davyn's waist. The doctors were present at this stage to supervise. The paddings were used to protect the prisoner's vulnerable lower spine. Now, except for four inches of his lower abdomen, Davyn was completely naked.
"We always cane our prisoners naked. Certainly the shame of being naked and exposed embodies an important element of the punishment. The prisoner gets the idea that he is stripped of his right to his body and control of his body, when he is stripped of all his clothes and forced to submit to others' control of his body; and this includes being exposed naked to others, to which he longer has the right to object. The prisoner is, after all, the state's property now. But being caned naked is also more pragmatic since clothes can get in the way of the cane and the caning process.
"In accordance with procedures, Davyn's body was laid on the trestle at about a hundred degree angle, with his bottom levitated slightly above his shoulders. We were operating on the parameter that only his buttocks must be caned, so only the buttocks were raised up. We were forbidden to inflict the cane on his back, thighs and legs. His feet were only slightly parted, but parted enough to expose his anus and scrotum to all present. Davyn must be aware that everyone's attention was directed at his private parts, which would be exposed for about an hour.
"As soon as the signal to proceed was communicated, I delivered the first blow to Davyn's pale bottom. As was usual of prisoners, Davyn let out a small cry. My first lash successfully left a white ridge on the skin of his bottom. It turned red in two seconds, which later erupted into a quarter-inch welt. The second lash was more severe and it split his skin. Blood wept from the welt. Davyn started to howl and cry at the second lash, and this behavior seemed common to all caned prisoners, as I was gradually to discover.
"It is our policy that no more than twelve lashes may be inflicted on a prisoner at any one time. Twelve lashes were the maximum at any one session, and any more was always done in installments. This is peculiar to our region.
"I know that in other countries that practise judicial caning, they can cane prisoners for up to two hundred lashes at a time. This is tantamount to torture. From my experience, a caned prisoner would start to swoon from the tenth lash. I wonder at their having to endure more than that. We do not want to maim or kill our prisoners.
"Do we cane women criminals? It's not the custom in this region, but I know that they cane women in many Moslem countries. I believe it's carried out the same way, on their naked buttocks. Wasn't that Filipino maid, who had been convicted of the murder of her Saudi Arabian employer, caned one hundred times on her naked bottom? It was all completed in a day, I believe.
"But in Davyn's case, the caning took approximately forty-five minutes to complete. After every two lashes, a doctor examined his heart and buttocks, and then I would be given the signal to resume. Davyn allowed me to complete his caning as prescribed. I've had prisoners delaying the process with protests and requests for one thing or another, all of which are always overruled anyway. Except for his sometimes distracting tears, Davyn was almost the model subject, and his sangfroid made my first job a relatively easy one. But at the end of his eighth lash, Davyn was crying like a baby.
"While Davyn continued to cry and rant, the warders released him and stood him up by the arms so that the photographer could do his job now. The prisoners always had to be held up by warders because otherwise, their legs gave out under the weight of their suffering. Before Davyn was led away, the officials examined the Polaroid snapshots to be sure the lashes were clearly and visibly captured. It's not unusual to make the prisoners stand up for their photographs to be re-shot.
"In the presence of all the witnesses, the prisoners are photographed front and back. These are head to toe shots. The welted backsides and their owners must corroborate.
"My job always ends here. As soon as the photographs are certified and the caning documented, the prisoners are taken away.
"After Davyn was led to the infirmary for his examination, I never saw him again. Some prisoners have had to be carried out on a gurney, but these were usually the ones that had been caned more than ten times so that they were already in a swoon. Davyn hobbled to the infirmary on his own wobbly hooves. At this stage, he must remain naked.
"At the infirmary, the prisoners, like Davyn, are given a painkilling shot on their buttocks, and for the rest of the day, they are left alone to recover in their cells," Abdoul said, concluding the first part of the interview.
It was now time to examine some of the photographs Mr. Abdoul had spoken of.