In the United Kingdom, a borstal was a juvenile detention centre or reformatory, an institution of the criminal justice system, intended to reform delinquent male youths aged between about 16 and 21. A youth detention center, also known as Juvenile Hall is a prison for people under the age of 18. ... A reformatory is a juvenile prison where legal minors are sent by (juvenile or general) courts to spend a custodial sentence, separate from the bad example of and abuse by adult (often hardened) convicts, usually gender-separated (mainly boys). ... Institutions are structures and mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of two or more individuals. ... Criminal justice system flowchart Criminal Justice refers to the system used by government to maintain social control, prevent crime, enforce laws, and administer justice. ... Delinquent means one who fails to do that which is required by law or by duty and such failure is minor in nature. ...

History

The Gladstone Committee (1895) proposed the concept, wishing to separate youths from older men in adult prisons. It was the task of Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise (1857-1935), a prison commissioner, to introduce the system and the first institution was established at Borstal Prison in a village called Borstal, near Rochester in north Kent, England in 1902. A road adjoining the original institution is named after him. Sir Evelyn John Ruggles-Brise KCB (6 December 1857 – 18 November 1935) was a British prison administrator and reformer. ... Borstal is an ancient village near Rochester, once in Kent county, now in the Medway conurbation, England. ... Borstal is a village in Kent, England. ... Rochester is a small town in Kent, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. ... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the Queen England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 967 AD  Area  -  Total 130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi  Population  -  2007 estimate 50...

The regime in these institutions was highly regulated, with a focus on education, routine, discipline and authority. Breaking the rules could result in physical punishment, including corporal punishment of three types (rather like the Royal Navy's treatment of boys): informal smacks on the spot for any misdemeanors, formal beating such as a caning imposed by (senior) staff for graver offences and, for the worst crimes such as severely abusing a staff member, the magistrate could impose the administration, by staff, of a birching (as in an adult prison, also on the bare buttocks), which because of its superior severity was frequently administered publicly, often in the gymnasium, strapped down naked over the vaulting horse, in front of the other boys to dissuade serious misbehaviour. However the precise frequency, nature and severity of punishments is a matter of dispute. While the institutions were supposed to offer education, regular work and discipline, "more often than not they were breeding grounds for bullies and psychopaths."^[1] Corporal punishment is forced pain intended to change a persons behaviour or to punish them. ... Birching is corporal punishment with a birch rod, typically a spanking (i. ... The vault, formerly known as vaulting horse, is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. ... Discipline is any training intended to produce a specific character or pattern of behaviour, especially training that produces moral, physical, or mental development in a particular direction. ... A bully is an individual who tends to torment others, either through verbal harassment or physical assaults, or through more subtle methods of coercion. ... See Also: Antisocial Personality Disorder Theoretically, psychopathy is a three-faceted disorder involving interpersonal, affective and behavioral characteristics. ...

The Criminal Justice Act 1982 abolished the borstal system in the UK, introducing youth custody centres instead.

The same system had also been introduced in several other states of the British Empire and Commonwealth, including Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland the Criminal Justice Act, 1960 (Section 12) removed the term from usage. This was part of a policy to broaden the system from usage as reform and training institutions to a place of detention for youths between 16 and 21 for any sentence which carried a prison term.

Similar institutions (see reformatory) existed elsewhere, including several states of the US, but under different names, sometimes quite euphemistic such as "school for boys". A reformatory is a juvenile prison where legal minors are sent by (juvenile or general) courts to spend a custodial sentence, separate from the bad example of and abuse by adult (often hardened) convicts, usually gender-separated (mainly boys). ...

Borstal in the arts

Literature

• Irish writer Brendan Behan wrote of his experiences in the borstal system in his 1958 book Borstal Boy.

• In his 1959 book, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Alan Sillitoe wrote about a boy's time in a Borstal for robbing a bakery.

• In the short novel Lamb by Bernard MacLaverty, the plot follows an ex-teacher in a borstal called "the home" who runs away with one of the boys with the hope of saving him from the home's regime.

Brendan Francis Behan (Irish: Breandán Ó Beacháin) (February 9, 1923 - March 20, 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. ... Borstal Boy (1958) was an autobiographical story by Irish nationalist Brendan Behan, recouting his imprisonment at Hollesley Bay for attempting to carry explosives into Great Britain, on a mission for the Irish Republican Army. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Alan Sillitoe (born March 4, 1928) is an English writer, one of the Angry Young Men of the 1950s. ... Bernard MacLaverty (born September 14, 1942 in Northern Ireland), educated at St Malachys College and Queens University, Belfast, is a Northern Irish author who has written the novels Cal, Lamb, and Grace Notes, which was shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize. ...

Music

• The Faces song "Borstal Boys" was on their 1973 album Ooh La La.
• Sham 69 released a 1978 single called "Borstal Breakout".
• Oxymoron released the song "Borstal" in 1995 on their album Fuck The Nineties: Here's Our Noize.
• Squeeze, in their song "Vicky Verky" (from their 1980 album Argybargy), sing: "He went off to Borstal/ He said he that was forced to/ Rob the flats of hi-fis."

Small Faces album cover Faces were an early 1970s rock band formed in 1969 from the ashes of The Small Faces after Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie; new members Ron Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (vocals) (both from The Jeff Beck Group) joined Ronnie Lane (bass), Ian McLagan... Ooh La La is a 1973 (see 1973 in music) album by the rock and roll band The Faces. ... Sham 69 are an English punk rock band from Hersham, Surrey. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Squeeze was a New Wave band that formed in London in 1974. ... Argybargy is a 1980 album by the British New Wave group Squeeze. ...

Film and television

• In 1979 a film about the borstal system was made, called Scum, following on from a 1977 television play of the same name, which conveys the corruption of the borstal system and how brutal borstal life really is.

• Borstal also featured in an edition of Chris Morris's Brass Eye entitled Crime, in which the original inmates of the borstal have continually failed their release tests and are now old men, still imprisoned.

• There is a BBC television series (mostly shown on BBC3) called Dog Borstal, which is about badly behaved dogs.

• In BBC series Little Britain, Vicky Pollard was sent to Borstal for her shop-lifting offences and proceeded to get in trouble for fighting another girl.

• In the BBC series Fawlty Towers, Sybil is constantly telling Basil that this is a hotel not a Borstal.

Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Scum is a film made in 1979 portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. ... Romeo and Juliet by Ford Madox Brown A play, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialog between characters, and intended for performance rather than reading. ... Chris Morris (b. ... Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries which aired on Channel 4 in 1997 and was re-run in 2001. ... Little Britain is a character-based BBC radio and television sketch show written by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams that relies largely on simplistic caricatures and heavy use of catch-phrases. ... Vicky sniffing glue Vicky Pollard is a fictional character from the cult BBC TV and radio show Little Britain played by Matt Lucas. ... Fawlty Towers was a British sitcom made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. ...

Borstal on the Internet

Borstal.net is now a text based game made made and developed by Lewis Malcolm Hodge.

Sources and references

• specialized website
• reformatory links from CorPun site devoted to corporal punishments
• Archive pictures of Portland Borstal, 1920s and 1930s

1. ^ Bernard O'Mahoney (July 2006) The A-Z of Law and Disorder