That's all! The usual sentence in such cases is 3 or 4 strokes in Singapore and Brunei, but often only one stroke in Malaysia. Immediate physical effects "Singapore Lawmen Don't Spare the Rod Or Spoil the In Malaysian prisons, the punishment is inflicted in an open yard, as we see in these video clips. ", the reply was, "Always after fifteen strokes, however accurate the flogger, the skin will be gone and the flesh will fly" (op. Prisoners, he said, are frightened that they will be unable to stop themselves crying out. Normally, judicial CP gets into the international news only when Western visitors are caned. Some prisoners in Singapore are taken to the prison hospital after their caning. The Singapore authorities could therefore perhaps claim that many of the more lurid media descriptions ahead of Michael Fay's punishment were exaggerations when applied to what was to be only a six-stroke caning (reduced at the last minute to four). ", "When it was my turn to go in, I saw six men in the room: two police officers, a doctor, and three men -- the ones administering the caning. The pain was unbearable. What is clear, anyway, is that the JCP regime as it developed was an outgrowth of British judicial custom and practice. Prisoners are not told in advance when their caning is to take place. Some figures for Singapore: But the number of CP sentences in Singapore has fallen dramatically since then, presumably as a result of the more lenient sentencing policy introduced following a change of Chief Justice in 2006, referred to earlier: These statistics have not, as far as we can discover, been published in Singapore itself; they were given in the annual US State Department Human Rights Reports, so presumably they are correct or the Singapore authorities would surely have challenged them. The Malaysian cane is very slightly smaller, at 1.09m long and 1.25cm thick. Tan is suing the Singapore government for around S$3 million (USD 2.2 million) in damages for mistakenly caning him three more strokes than he was sentenced to, court documents showed. In particular the country's Bar Council, representing lawyers, unanimously passed a resolution in 2007 described whipping as cruel, inhumane and degrading, and called for its abolition, especially for illegal immigrants. As The Straits Times described it in 1974, "he bends over with his bottoms [sic] up, ready to receive his punishment". Caning is practised on sandbags, dummies or banana trees. The Singapore Director of Prisons said at his 1974 press conference that most prisoners put up a struggle after each of the first three strokes. (Public Record Office, CO 273/554/13.). Twenty-four also can', he smirked and with that, he left. There were those who took three steps forward and those who stood absolutely still. Applying these ratios to a possible annual figure of about 3,500 recipients during that period, we can estimate the following numbers caned each year: But these figures largely exclude immigration offences. (Sam, 15 strokes). and he took three steps, swinging (the cane) back and forth, before hitting me on the third step. The lower crossbar has bolted to it two short lengths of chain, each of four links to which are attached, by D-rings, restraining ankle cuffs. I thought they would at least wait until my arm was totally healed. Had I buried myself in prison for good? Mr Quek's family members said he had later been hospitalised at the Changi Prison Hospital. Some differences between Singapore and Malaysia. I had to go without shorts for more than two weeks so that my wounds could heal. Former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew, founding father of modern Singapore, introducing mandatory caning for vandalism in 1966, told Parliament: "[...] if (the offender) knows he is going to get three of the best, I think he will lose a great deal of enthusiasm, because there is little glory attached to the rather humiliating experience of having to be caned." The editorial also criticised the whole tone of the Prisons Director's press conference. FOR A It bled on and off for days [...] (I had to) put on an apron for about ten days as I could not wear shorts. You hear a crack when it hits you. "I heard the sharp cracking sound like the sound of a small pistol shot as it landed square, right across the tender flesh of my behind. This article is about judicial CP (JCP) and CP for infractions of prison rules. "'You again!' I gritted my teeth so hard that my jaws felt stiff and ached. We were all hoping to be called first, to get it over and done with. This was the first time I was going to be whipped. It is perhaps 9 feet high, solidly constructed from timber, on a wooden base on which the prisoner stands. However, it is treated with antiseptic before use. Symes received six strokes in 1982 for drug-trafficking. ("Jack" - 20 strokes). Men who have been caned are not permitted to serve in the Singapore Armed Forces. (Michael Fay, 4 strokes), "It sounded like a tree falling onto my buttocks. Amnesty International Briefing on Singapore, January 1978 This serves a lasting educational purpose; they will always be reminded not to commit the offence again!". This page was last edited on 16 March 2019, at 20:03. Irrespective of the age of the offender or the type of crime committed, every stroke is inflicted with the full strength of the warder: "Canings are administered with maximum force" (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 2 April 1994). No two strokes inflicted by him fell on the same spot. Qwek Shi Lei, the then Director of Prisons, gave more details at a press conference in 1974. During this period about 360 sentences inflicting a total of approximately 3,200 strokes were reported in the English-language local press. But that was not to be. Attached to this crossbar are wrist cuffs, similar to the ankle cuffs. [...] The strokes came at the rate of one a minute -- but it seemed like a lifetime to me. 15, 1994 In 1997, a 31-year-old New Zealander was given three months in jail with a three-stroke caning for overstaying his visitor's visa. (Ah Seng, 5 strokes, interviewed by Baratham, p.111 ff.). Recipients have described how sometimes the caning officer will be practising on a dummy while the prisoner is being prepared. It can be seen from several pictures of "dummy demonstration" canings that very similar equipment is used in Brunei. It was a modern resurgence of an old difficulty: like the rest of the Chinese diaspora, Singapore had historically faced a serious gangsterism problem. They swelled to twice their normal size. Likewise, The New Paper in 1991 published the following picture of the buttocks of an ex-convict who, it said, had been caned 10 years previously: And in Gopal Baratham's book, two pictures are reproduced - in fact almost certainly different views of the same man: The Singapore Director of Prisons in his 1974 news conference said: "[...] the cane marks are indelible and these will be a source of humiliation to (the prisoners) for the rest of their lives". There must be alternative sentencing options like community service, or probation, or probation with a lot of strings attached to it.". This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total. I waited and waited for the first one and as soon as I let my breath out -- "Baamm." If there is a word stronger than excruciating, that should be the word to describe it". "Another warder stripped me and strapped me to a wooden trestle by my ankles and wrists. It took about 2 weeks or longer to heal, because we were not given medicine or lotion. - ordered by Superintendent: not exceeding 12 strokes with a rottan The dimensions of Singapore's light rattan are not known. Although canings are inflicted out of sight of other prisoners, there are several prison officers in attendance, including the superintendent, a superintendent warder, prison officers, the doctor and male nurse or assistants, and the officers administering the caning. A case was reported in August 2004 in which a rapist was sentenced to 50 strokes in total. Fay did not recall hearing the caner say one word throughout the whole procedure. Michael Fay described the warder who administered his caning as "young, very fit". There are dozens of offences for which a man might be given the cane -- from serious violent crimes to some non-violent offences that might seem relatively minor in the West but are regarded as serious in Singapore, a highly authoritarian state where the importation and sale of chewing gum is an offence (though not a caneable one) and where people can be fined significant sums for dropping litter, smoking in public places, or failing to flush a public toilet after use. "The skin did rip open, there was some blood," said Michael Fay of his four-stroke caning, adding "Let's not exaggerate, and let's not say a few drops or that the blood was gushing out. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash". 20 strokes - 1 sentence The result of caning is a lasting mark on their buttocks. cit., p.107). Then it was all over. In addition to implementing the death penalty for drug-traffickers (as Malaysia also does), in 1998 Singapore introduced a special scheme for non-trafficking drug addicts called the long-term imprisonment (LT) regime. When the Straits Settlements, comprising the three predominantly Chinese-populated port cities of Singapore, Melaka (Malacca) and Penang (George Town), was formed as a British colony in 1826, the criminal law of England applied. One which was reported involved a boy of 15; the court ordered his father to give him four strokes of the light cane, and this was done immediately. Some information is available about the frequency of JCP in tiny Brunei, where the caning of illegal immigrants was introduced in 2004. Another man, Sam, who received 15 strokes for rape, described his experience: "(I was) three months into my prison term when the day of the caning came. The 1948 Report of the Singapore Prison Enquiry Commission records the rules at that time for prison offences: "For aggravated offences against prison discipline - I couldn't even walk properly. In 2008 this system was amended so that an external committee now has to be consulted on each caning case before the Prisons Director can confirm the punishment. In the case of adults the rottan shall be not more than half an inch in diameter, while in the case of juveniles a light rottan shall be used.". (Offenders sentenced to death are not caned as well.). When the rattan hits the bare buttocks, the skin disintegrates, leaving a white line and then a flow of blood." This operates in parallel with the mainstream judicial system. The harder, the better. "The first stroke came... the pain was unbelievable and there were still five to go. I heard the cane crack and felt blood shoot right through my body. "The cane leaves huge red welts and permanent scars" (The Straits Times, 8 April 1994). In Malaysia, on the other hand, the frame (pictured right) is a triangle rather than a trestle, coming to a point at the top instead of having parallel sides. Most of the Australians captured in Singapore were moved into Changi on 17 February 1942. Press reports of sentences probably give a misleading impression of the norm: the more serious cases are the ones more likely to be reported. On the opposite side of the trestle there is a stabilising crossbar, higher up, and another crossbar placed slightly lower than the adjustable one on the prisoner's side. There are separate articles on caning in the military, on caning in youth reformatories, and on the caning of boys at school. No information is yet to hand on the position of the new Malaysian government elected in 2018. For the next three weeks (I) slept with my face down. When you have made contact with the buttocks, you must drag the tip of the rotan along the skin to break it.". Even so, it is not obvious that this relatively moderate scarring is going to be there for life. He was in pain, and when he sat down, he sat down very gingerly" ("Caned Youth Gets Visit In Singapore", New York Times, 7 May 1994). They can't stop themselves. Again, I heard the horrible whizzing sound of the descending cane through the air. As was once the case in Britain itself, several former British territories that still retain corporal punishment permit its infliction for serious breaches of the rules by prisoners in addition to its use as a court sentence for offences against the law.

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