Texas A.S.S. Program (PART 1)

[lexanpaddle]

MY EXPERIENCE WITH TEXAS’ “ALTERNATIVE SENTENCE STRUCTURE” (A.S.S.) PROGRAM

Let me begin with a little background. Like most states, Texas has been dealing with overcrowding in their detention facilities and excessive delinquency in fine payments for a number of years. With the economic problems during recent years, the problem only seems to have gotten worse. The Texas Legislature recently introduced and passed a bill temporarily allowing an alternative sentencing structure that is intended to alleviate some of these problems. The pilot program is authorized, but not mandated, for use on a trial basis in all Texas county courtrooms. Waco County, where I reside, is one of the counties that decided to try out this pilot program. The initiative allows offenders, age 18 and older, convicted of misdemeanor crimes to choose to accept corporal punishment in lieu of a fine or jail sentence. The designers of this initiative were very open about their intention for the alternative sentence to be both embarrassing and painful. They were very clear that they wanted to ensure that selection of the alternative sentence did not result in the even the slightest perception by the public that this was an “easy” way out. Last week, I became a veteran of the alternative sentence structure program. I am certain that my following recollection of the events that day will convince you that the designers of this program have more than succeeded in making the alternative sentence both excruciatingly painful and extremely humiliating. By sharing my account with you, I hope to begin the process of healing the emotional scars I incurred that fateful day as a result of the terrible decision that a 15-swat paddling would be a preferable to 3 days of public service and paying a $1000 fine.

It all started a couple of months ago on a Friday night that began like any other. I went out to the bars with my buddies with the intent of getting a little rowdy and maybe meeting some girls. It had been a long week at work and I began drinking at a pretty good pace that evening….too good I guess. I was feeling great and was really getting into the atmosphere. I guess I started getting belligerent and my buddies decided it was time to get me to the house before I caused any problems. Their intentions were good; I however, thwarted their best efforts to keep me out of trouble. As they coaxed me to the parking lot, I began verbally taunting a police officer on foot patrol. Even he tried to calm me down, but after repeated attempts to curtain my verbal assault in front of a growing crowd, he was eventually forced to handcuff and arrest me for public intoxication.

At my court date last week, I pled guilty to a first offense misdemeanor charge of public intoxication and was sentenced to 3 days of community service and a $1000 dollar fine. After dismissal from the courtroom, I went immediately, as instructed by the judge, to the court clerks office to pay my fine and inquire about arrangements for community service. It was here that I was asked by the clerk if I was aware of the Alternative Sentencing Structure (ASS) program. I told her that I had read a little bit about it in the paper, but did not know much about the particulars. She handed me a brochure outlining the “A.S.S.” program and then after some quick typing printed out a ASS summary sheet that informed me that if I chose to participate, my alternative sentence would be 15 swats. She told me that if I decided to participate in the alternative sentencing program, I should return to the court clerks office no later than 8:00 A.M. the following day and that if the sentence was executed to completion, I would be released no later than noon free and clear of both the fine and community service. She went on to tell me that failure to either show up and pay the fine and make arrangements for community service or complete the ASS sentence by noon the following day would result in issuance of a warrant for my arrest.

Being tight on money and considering myself a pretty tough guy, I thought this ASS program didn’t sound like such a bad idea as long as nobody I knew ever found out that I got spanked for my little drunken episode. I decided to forego paying the fine for the time being and took the brochure home to look it over and decide if it was worth the spanking to save $1000 and 3 days of my weekends to complete the community service.

The brochure went into great detail about the equivalency measures used to convert fines, jail time and community service into a corporal punishment sentence. I didn’t pay much attention to that since I already knew my burden would be a 15 swat paddling. The brochure went on to describe the manner in which the punishment would be administered. The paddling would be administered on the offender’s bare buttocks while firmly secured to a leather padded bench that restrains the recipient with his/her upper body bent over no more than 90 degrees and no less than 85 degrees from the vertical position of the upper legs resting at the knees on a kneeling pad with the knees spread no less than shoulder width apart. The punishment would consist of swats from a wooden paddle of maple composition, 30 inches long, 4 inches wide and ¼” thick for female recipients and ½“ thick for male recipients. The paddle includes ¼ inch diameter holes drilled at 1.5” vertical and horizontal spacing for the full length of the impact portion of the paddle. This part of the description included a parenthetical note that the holes decrease air resistance and increase the sting of the paddle. The paddle would be propelled by the spring action of a 6 ft long flexible fiberglass arm. The next part of the description really intrigued me. The resistance of the springy fiberglass arm would be mobilized by a deputy of the court who would pull the paddle back until it was locked into place at its preset coiled position. The actual release of the coiled energy of the fiberglass arm and subsequent impact of the swat would then be actuated by a trigger located on the spanking bench and held in the hand of the recipient. Wow!!, this meant I had to prepare myself to unleash each swat of the paddle on my own free will. The brochure went on to explain that each recipient had a maximum of one minute per swat to complete the punishment or the session would be aborted and one day would be added to the deadline to either begin serving the sentence handed down by the court or start over and complete the entire alternative corporal punishment by noon the following day. After three failures to complete the entire alternative corporal punishment sentence within the allotted time limit, the offender would be forced to accept the sentence of the court and have no further opportunity to accept the alternative sentence. The punishment would be executed in a sealed chamber attended only by other offenders scheduled for alternative sentences that day and no more than three court appointed deputies.