Officer Lucy Starr had been a Correctional Officer with the Ministry of Justice since she graduated with first class honours from her Masters in Judicial Correction. She was now in her second year of a five year fast track programme to the senior level rank at the Ministry.
She had been placed at this short stay prison facility once she had completed the Level 1 Corporal Punishment module at the end of year one. This facility was aimed at medium level offenders who had passed the seriousness level to be sent to prison, but instead were sent here for short sharp shock treatment in the form of enhanced corporal punishment.
Lucy had been doing her Masters when the Criminal and Civil Justice Act was amended to bring corporal punishment into the statute book, so that was by no means the reason she joined the profession, but it certainly piqued her interest. She was now the youngest female officer in the service who had had authority to deliver corporal punishment, if only at the basic level of the cane and whip. He career was everything to her and she was focussed on her goal totally. She was currently studying for her level 2, which would allow her to undertake more advanced punishments such as Punishment Restraints for example, the Discipline Bra or Testes Clamp. The level 3 would allow her to practice the most advanced punishments, such as electro punishment and some of the more infamous punishments at the extreme end of the severity scale.
She studied hard, not leaving a lot of time for a social life, preferring to study for her next set of exams, even though they were still six months away. She had managed to get 98% in the practical assessment for caning, which she was proud of, but she was mildly irritated at dropping the 2%. Her only hobby was kick boxing which kept her fit and gave her that little bit more confidence when dealing with prisoners. None here should be violent in theory, but the psychology element of her undergraduate degree assured her that people in 'fight or flight' mode could be wholly unpredictable.
Offenders can find themselves being strapped to the punishment frame, essentially via three routes; court ordered in addition to a custodial sentence so that the punishment is delivered in prison, court ordered as a stand alone punishment, and for the most minor offences, sentences issued by post, for example for speeding. In the latter two cases, it is most common for offenders to need to make an appointment and attend a punishment centre. Although her current placement was technically listed as a prison because of the custodial element, they also dealt with the day cases.
It had been a hard week for Lucy, the run of shifts hadn't been kind, it was how the rota sometimes fell. She'd not had chance to get to the gym more than once and she was very much in need of a run. She was going to go straight from work today, once she'd got the paperwork cleared up from today's punishments. Each punishment attracted a fair amount of record keeping and documentation. A lot of other of the approved Punishment Officers had their assistants do much of the paperwork, but Lucy preferred to have the final check on everything, so did it all herself. That unfortunately necessitated the longer hours like this evening.
She was completing her final Punishment Report of the day, a 38 year old male who'd received 21 stokes of the number 2 cane to buttocks. He had cried loudly and fought against the restraint straps throughout. At the end though, when he was released, his penis was erect. Not uncommon, but still necessary to make a record in the file.
Her email pinged. It was from her boss and she was surprised to get an email at this time. 'Lucy, I see you're still in work. Please come and see me before you leave.'
Her stomach flipped a little. This wasn't normal and the tone was very clipped, not her usual friendly self. Lucy looked at the words on the screen, trying to sense the meaning for a few moments, but gave up and simply replied 'Hi Amanda. Sure, I'm just finishing up. Lucy.'
She completed her report on the final punishment, downloaded the stills of the results on his buttocks and his erect penis, taken from the CCTV camera to the file, and shut down her machine. Everything in this place was recorded permanently on ultra high definition cameras. Each punishment frame was well covered so that the process and result of the punishments could be well recorded. She gathered her things and took the lift up to her boss's office.
Lucy knocked on the office door.
"Come in," came the reply from inside.
Lucy opened the door and stepped into the office, her boss was sat at the desk, her uniform jacket was on the stand and she had clearly been working at her computer.
The Assistant Director of Corrections was Amanda Richards, a career focussed woman who Lucy liked to look up to and use as a role model. She was about forty or so, a little curvy but attractive, with brown shoulder length hair, that was held up above her collar as per uniform regulations. She had a reputation for being severe in her approach, but as her immediate supervisor on the development programme, Lucy had found her supportive, although she was in no doubt who was in charge and Amanda had no trouble holding Lucy to account.
"Good evening, Amanda. You wanted to see me?" Lucy said, trying to hide the inexplicable nervousness she felt at the unorthodox summons to the office.
"Hello Lucy. Take a seat," the Assistant Director said, indicating the chair in front of the desk. She watched as Lucy got herself settled into the uncomfortable visitor's chair.
"Look Lucy, I'm going to get straight to the point, this isn't going to be a pleasant conversation."
Lucy's stomach sank. She had known something was going on. It was so irregular to be called here like this.
Amanda continued before the young officer could respond. "I have received a complaint in relation to a custodial you executed on Wednesday morning," she paused to see the reaction. Lucy cast her mind back to Wednesday and remembered she had been executing the canings on the custody prisoners. The session in front of the audience. Amanda continued, "The complaint suggests you were excessive in your delivery of the punishment."
Lucy swallowed. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be the first time someone thinks they have been caned too hard," she ventured. She could hear the hopeful, tentative tone in her own voice and felt her face colour. She didn't know what the complaint was, but she knew it couldn't be that. A complaint like that wouldn't even make it past the receptionist.
"No Lucy, the complainant is your assistant." There was a silence in the room that was deafening. Lucy frantically searched her memory back to Wednesday. Three days ago. She'd executed a good number of punishments since then. She was doing canings Wednesday morning, whippings in the afternoon, the same on Thursday and all day today had been canings. She thought hard and remembered that her assistant had been Eleanor Campbell.
"But, I don't understa . .," her voice broke off as she realised what the complaint must be about.
Her boss started speaking again, breaking her line of thought, "On the morning session, the first custodial of the day was a Ciara Murphy, a 42 year old female from Cell 247 that received 18 strokes. Do you recollect that punishment?"
Lucy's mind was racing. She knew that she had overstepped the mark. The woman, more than ten years her senior, was perhaps the most controlled she'd ever caned. Her self control to manage her reactions to the strokes had started off as piquing Lucy's interest, because they were getting less as the punishment went on, not greater, which is what normally happens. Lucy had been determined to get a reaction from the woman.
