County to use flogging as alternative to jail time

Officials in Imsl (pronounced em zil by the way) California are discussing bringing back flogging in an attempt to cut back on the jail overtime budget. Offenders who have been sentences to less than ten days may opt to be flogged ten strokes for one day of credit.

Officer Kim Barry is the PIO of the IPD said of the plan: “There is no violation of the eighth amendment here. Judicial Corporal Punishment (JCP) was standard in the late 1700 when the constitution was written accepted. Also this program is a voluntary alternative to the sentence of jail, it is not mandated. The ten strokes may be administered in one day or over several days, but not more than four days“

It is true that “whipping” was used up until 1959 in some states here in the USA. Also at least 30 of the world’s nation states have some form of JCP, and most of those have a lower crime rate than the US. So this idea has some merit, the only question are how this would be done. Cane, cat ‘o nines, birching, bare backs, over a table or over a chair, the training of C.O’s… These are question that need to be discussed before the writing the ordinance, let alone putting this all in practice. When asked about this Officer Barry said, “we are sending officers to some of the BDSM clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area to answer those question right now. And ask for guidance. After all, those people are the professionals in this kind of thing.”

After hearing that I discreetly asked what would happen if C.O.’ found the offender liked the punishment, she replied, “We will cross that lap when we get to it.”