O'Neil suggests allowing caning or whipping

Citing high incarceration costs and the need for more sentencing options, Rep. Jerry O’Neil, R-Columbia Falls, is sponsoring a bill that would allow offenders to trade corporal punishment for time in jail or prison.

O’Neil said draft bill LC1452 has attracted lots of attention from the media, but some legislators who’ve looked at it give it a positive response.

The bill defines corporal punishment as “the infliction of physical pain.” O’Neil said whipping or caning might qualify. The bill would get around the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against “cruel or unusual punishment” by making it part of a plea agreement between an offender, his defense attorney and the prosecutor.

“People typically give up some Constitutional rights in a plea bargain,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil said he came up with the idea on his own, but he cited the use of caning in Singapore as an example where the crime rate is reduced and incarceration costs are low. He said the recidivism rate here has been about 38 percent for more than a decade, and corporal punishment could be an effective deterrent.

“It could be better than what we do now,” he said.

As O’Neil envisions the bill, county sheriff’s departments would be responsible for carrying out corporal punishment for new offenders, while the Montana Department of Corrections could handle it for offenders who are already in the system and want to reduce their prison or jail time.

O’Neil suggested corporal punishment could be more humane than locking up individuals for long periods of time, which also inflicts pain and suffering on families. He also noted that the Department of Corrections budget could reach $380 million for the next biennium.

“If we can reduce incarceration by 5 percent, then maybe we could give the prison guards a raise,” he said.

As for potential health concerns that might result from whipping or caning, “Hopefully the defense attorney and prosecutor can negotiate a punishment that doesn’t cause such injuries,” he said.

O’Neil is also sponsoring a bill that would reduce the liability for county governments if they allow “Dumpster diving” at rural green box sites. Flathead County no longer allows people to scavenge the green boxes for items that could be salvaged or recycled, but many people in the county would like to see that opportunity returned.

“If there is evidence of willful misconduct by the county, an injured party could still sue,” he said about House Bill 208, noting that he recalled when signs reading “Enter At Your Own Risk” were considered sufficient.

O’Neil said his proposed bill received a unanimous vote in the House Local Government Committee and is moving forward.