ROBERT P. HEYNE opened his file drawer, pulled out a leather flogging strap, and held it up. It appeared to be at least two feet long, as broad as a man's hand, half as thick as a finger.

"Okay," he said. "You're right. We're using it again. We've got nothing to hide."

Floggings were common at the Indiana Boys' School until 1966. In that year, Mr. Heyne's superior in Indiana announced the strap would be retired. The no-strap policy continued through mid-January of 1969, according to S. Kuharich, who was removed as Indiana Commissioner of Corrections when Governor Edgar D. Whitcomb (R) took office. The flogging quickly began again, although fewer children were being beaten than before the ban, according to Mr. Heyne.

Mr. Heyne says boys are strapped only five times on their bare buttocks. The floggings also are often tied to thirty days in solitary confinement.

A boy described his flogging to me. (This was later confirmed by a staff member.)

"They took me into the room where we watch TV. I was told to bend over the table. A security man held the strap. Mr. Heyne and some others stood around watching. They told me to drop my drawers. I kept looking around, and the security man slapped my face. Then he hit me with the strap. I went down to my knees. They pulled me up and hit me again. I went down to my knees. That happened five times. I couldn't sit down for three days. I couldn't lay on my back for a week until the welts went away."