Two Stories of
Prison Strapping in Canada

Guelph was one of the model reform schools in Canada during the earlier part of the 20th century. Located in the province of Ontario, it specialized in "reforming" young offenders, youths up to the age of 19. Those who didn't learn to accept society's rules after a stint at Guelph usually went on to the penitentiary with an adult population. Guelph had only one program designed to re-educate Canada's juvenile offenders - harsh discipline!

Without exception all the guards or staff as they were called, were army or navy veterans. Most had long service in the armed forces and many were from Canada's elite guards or infantry regiments. Up until 1937 when the practice was stopped, new inmates could expect to get the strap on their bare asses during the first or second day of processing--just to give them a sample of what would happen if they didn't tow the line. After that there had to be a reason or infraction for the strapping. Guards had no trouble finding one during a new boy's processing, so the practice in effect continued. Use of the strap became more restricted after World War II, and by the 1950's it was used only on boys who committed serious offenses while serving their time or repeatedly broke the rules.

Although the frequency of strappings decreased the severity remained the same. The strap that was used on a boy in 1959 was the exact same strap that was used on a boy in 1921. The strap was designed with one purpose in mind: to cause as much pain as possible. The strap was made of stiff leather with a wood handle. It was three feet long, of which twelve inches formed the handle, three inches wide and a quarter inch thick. It had small holes drilled in it to increase the velocity, and a flat layer of lead was sewn in the end to give it more weight.

Andy C. liked to borrow cars in his hometown of Cornwall, Ontario. Problem was he never got permission from the owners. He was 18 when be was sent to Guelph in 1956. Boys arriving at Guelph were assigned either to a shop to learn a trade or, if their education was limited, to school. Andy, who never finished the 7th grade was as- signed to school.

Andy had been at Guelph two months to the day when he got into an argument with a teacher and knocked him to the ground with one healthy blow. Even though the teachers at the reformatory were not considered staff, the offense was considered almost as serious. Within two minutes four heavy guards walked into the class and took Andy to the solitary cell known as the "cooler," where he spent the next four hours waiting for a warden's court to convene.

The "court" took all of about two minutes. One of the assistant wardens heard the charges, asked Andy if he had anything to say and interrupted him in the second sentence of his defense. "Guilty as charged! " the warden pronounced "You will receive one dozen strokes of the strap on the bared buttocks!

A shiver went up Andy's spine. A dozen strokes was the maximum that could be given. He'd heard of guys pissing themselves after getting only three strokes. He began to wish he hadn't been so quick with his fists.

Andy struck the teacher at 10;30 that morning. Sentence was pronounced at 2: 30 PM, and Andy was taken back to the cooler to await his punishment. All his clothes were removed and he was left to sit naked on the cement floor in complete darkness. He knew he had a long wait. Strappings were never given until after 9 PM when the all the boys were in the dorms after a movie or night classes. The staff wanted as many boys as possible to benefit from the strappings - if not from feeling it, then from listening to it. When a strapping was to be given every boy in the place knew about it ten minutes after sentence was pronounced. Some boys put cigarette filters in their ears to shut out the sounds, others masturbated, timing their ejaculation to the last stroke and yell. Andy was determined not to holler although he knew boys as tough as he was who screamed blue murder.

At nine o'clock Andy heard the footsteps. The staff all wore heavy army boots with metal cleats on the toes and heels. The sounds of four 200-pound men walking down the cement corridor was enough to take the fight out of any boy.

They took him directly to the limbo room. This was the name given to the room where corporal punishment was carried out. The room was used for that purpose and that purpose only. It was damp and musty smelling. A bare 100 watt bulb lit the room. The room was empty except for a heavy oak contraption in the middle and a cupboard on the far wall. The guards stood around and talked as Andy was brought in and made to stand at attention in front of the oak platform. It was similar in a way to a butcher's chopping block except it was constructed so that when someone lay face down over it their upper body was sloped downward and their buttocks jutted up and out.

About five minutes later the medic came in. He told Andy to bend over and spread his checks. Andy did. A thermometer was inserted in his rectum. A nudge on his shoulder told him to straighten up. The medic pressed a cold stethoscope to his chest. His breath reeked of whisky. He listened for a moment. "Hey bones" said one of the staff "why don't you come back in a few minutes and listen with that thing? I bet you'll need both hands to hold it to his chest." The medic didn't reply. He reached down, took the thermometer out of Andy's ass and looked at it for a moment. "He's 0K," he said and stepped over to the side of the room.

Immediately, two guards stepped over, took hold of Andy, and bent him over the frame. His wrists were shackled with leather straps and attached to a cross bar between the front legs of the frame. While this was being done another guard was attaching similar straps to his ankles. A piece of rubber shock cord was pulled across the back of his thighs and hooked to the other side of the frame. A wide leather strap lined with sheepskin, was secured across his lower back and buckled tightly. This protected his backbone and kidneys from a stray blow. Finally, a last piece of shock cord was pulled across him just below the shoulder blades. The only thing Andy could move was his head and neck.

Andy had never been so scared in his life. A rough hand reached down and pressed something against his lips. "Open your mouth, pretty boy!" the owner of the hand said. A piece of hard rubber was shoved into his mouth and held there by a strap cinched tightly around the back of his head. This last item was not meant to silence yells but to keep the victim from biting his tongue or lip.

The cupboard was directly in his line of sight and by straining his neck Andy could see the guard walk over to it and remove the leather punishment strap.

The four staff drew lots to see who would administer the strapping. A towel was thrown over Andy's head to prevent him from seeing who was wielding the strap. He waited.

CRACK! The first stroke exploded through his buttocks. Now he knew why the others screamed. The pain was worse than he had anticipated, worse than he could ever have imagined. He tried to beg for mercy but he couldn't talk.

CRACK! He could scream though, and he did. He screamed as loud as he could and he didn't care who heard or what they thought of him.

CRACK! Tears rolled down his cheeks, vomit shot up his throat and out the corners of his mouth. He thought he was going to die.

SPLIT! His bladder emptied and a small puddle of piss formed on the cement under the frame.

WHAP! "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! God help me, God please help me," he prayed.

CRACKKK!

It stopped. He felt his hands being unfastened. "God, thank you, thank you, thank you." He mentally promised to attend church every Sunday. He would be religious the rest of his life.

The rubber shock cord around his back was released and a band under his neck lifted his upper body. He felt the stethoscope pressed against his chest, held for a few seconds, then pressed against the side of his ribs.

"He's 0K. "

He was shoved down again and felt the leather shackles being replaced. He tried to tell them through the rubber gag that he couldn't take six more, that he would die if they hit him again.

"We'll never see this punk in here again. "

"No, I don't believe so. You'd think they'd learn just hearing it. Fuckin' little bastards all scream and piss themselves!"

"This one's got a tender ass, look at that color. You better aim a little lower. "

Andy lived through the last six strokes. They untied him and helped him to his feet. Two guards stood him against a wall and moved away. A third moved in and threw a bucket of ice cold water over him. He fell to his knees sobbing. Another bucket of water was placed in front of him and the towel was thrown in his face.

"You've got two minutes to clean that piss and puke up you little punk!"

He cleaned it up. They shoved his clothes into his arms and led him down to a small infirmary.