Meet Alabama’s spankin’ judge—and get a load of his secret playroom.

Authorities are investigating allegations that now-suspended Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas periodically removed prisoners from Mobile County Metro Jail and spanked them in a room at the courthouse, according to courthouse sources involved in the inquiry….

According to sources, between a half-dozen and a dozen young men have shared their accounts with officials…. At least one young man has alleged that as a prelude to the paddling, Thomas told him that if he had been spanked when he was a child, he would not have found himself in jail later, according to one of the newspaper’s sources.

Not all of the young men making the allegations were in jail when they had their encounters with Thomas, according to the sources. At least one of Thomas’ accusers told authorities he was out of Metro Jail when the judge summoned him to the courthouse on a Sunday night.

In August, according to sources, a room matching descriptions provided by some of the young men was located just off a corridor that leads to the jury room connected to Thomas’ courtroom. Thomas’ official chambers and offices can be reached through a door behind his courtroom bench.

The Press-Register was shown the small room in late August. When asked about it Tuesday by a reporter, Thomas had no comment.

The room is about 6 feet by 8 feet, appearing better suited for storage than for use as an office.

Some sections of the courthouse’s sixth and eighth floors in the north tower of Mobile Government Plaza were built in a layout similar to Thomas’ section. And some of the corresponding small rooms in those other sections are used for storage, while others sit empty.

Some judges on the circuit bench have said they were not aware of these small rooms, and none said that the rooms in their own sections, or anywhere else at the courthouse, were used as extra offices.

But the small room in Thomas’ section appeared to be an office.

The walls were covered with framed pictures, awards and certificates received by the judge. Family pictures also sat in a tall, narrow bookcase that held law books and other documents.

A huge desk dominated the room, and behind it was a well-worn leather chair with a high back. Just to the right was an adjustable secretary’s chair, its seat cranked down low, about a foot from the floor.

According to sources, sometime after Thomas came aboard as a circuit judge, he changed the locks and occupied the room. It was unclear how many others on Thomas’ staff may have known about it.