BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A Maine man who asked to be publicly flogged instead of being sent to prison will undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock on Tuesday ordered the evaluation for 34-year-old Domingos Nobrega, of Bangor.

Nobrega faces sentencing following his conviction last May of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Bangor Daily News says after his conviction, Nobrega filed a motion asking for a sentence of two lashes for every year he would have been sentenced to prison. Nobrega said he didn’t want to be just another prison statistic and that he’d benefit more from a public flogging than prison.

Nobrega’s attorney last week cited the flogging request in filing a motion seeking a competency hearing and psychiatric evaluation.