Queenshae Smith stood before Ramsey County District Judge Michael DeCourcy on Wednesday and admitted she had beaten her son with a leather strap, a belt and an extension cord.

"Words can't express how sorry I am for my actions," said Smith, 31. "I do take full responsibility for my actions."

Smith of Vadnais Heights told the judge she was trying to better herself and was enrolled in the Salvation Army's Bolt program, a spiritual counseling and anger management program.

DeCourcy sentenced Smith to 30 days in the workhouse but hung a yearlong sentence over her head if she does not comply with probation.

Smith pleaded guilty April 3 to one count of malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor. Her son, then 11, told a nurse practitioner last September that his mother had whipped him with an extension cord from the TV after he got in trouble at school.

Smith admitted to investigators that she had beaten him. Medical personnel found extensive scarring on the boy's back, legs and buttocks. The boy was placed in foster care.

The judge advised Smith to continue working with authorities on a reunification program and to have no contact with her son unless it is authorized by child-protection officials.

PAT PHEIFER