With the growing likelihood that an American teenager living in Singapore is about to be caned here for vandalism, the government Sunday made public its first official account of how the punishment would be carried out.
The description of a caning, complete with a detailed diagram that shows a man tied down by his hands and ankles as he is flogged, was published Sunday in The Straits Times, a government-affiliated newspaper, and appeared to be an effort to convince its public that the punishment is not as brutal as some news accounts have suggested."Caning does not cause skin and flesh to fly, as alleged by critics - it may, however, leave bruises and marks," a statement from the Singapore Prisons Department said.
Prisoners who have been through a caning say the scars are permanent, and many go into shock from the intense pain of the flogging, which tears open the skin and causes copious bleeding.
Until Sunday, the government had declined to answer detailed questions about the procedures carried out in a flogging, a punishment introduced to Singapore by the British colonialists and still applied here for a variety of crimes, ranging from rape to vandalism to overstaying a visa.
According to the government statement, leather cuffs are used to strap a prisoner's wrists and ankles to a wooden trestle. A "pillow pad" is placed over the prisoner's lower back to prevent injury to areas above the buttocks.
The Straits Times quoted a spokesman for the Prisons Department as saying that while the jailer who performs the caning is not necessarily a martial arts expert, "some officers may have taken up martial arts training to keep themselves fit and for self-defense."
The rattan cane, four 4 feet long and about half an inch thick, is soaked in water to prevent it from splitting during the punishment and treated with antiseptic, the government said.