A teacher convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students had an odd request for the judge at his sentencing Thursday.

Adam Friedman, 46, offered to be castrated in an effort to avoid prison time.

Friedman was an instructor at the Arts at the Capitol Theater magnet school in Willimantic when he was arrested in December 2008.

Prosecutors say Friedman had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl between July and November 2008. The assaults took place at motels in Columbia and Manchester, and at the girl's grandparents' home in Hebron.

He plead guilty to second-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor and possession of child pornography in September.

But it was Thursday at his formal sentencing that Friedman asked Judge Elliot Solomon to allow him to be castrated instead of going to prison.

Solomon didn't take the offer, sentencing Friedman to 13 years. "My hope is that this sentence finds its was to every school in our state," Judge Solomon said. "So every teacher knows, if you touch a student, you're going to jail, and you're going for a long, long time."

Friedman will also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years after he is released.