BORSTAL

Borstal was a last resort for lads who had been through the approved school system where discipline was strict, and backed up by corporal-punishment.

Most lads were sent straight to Borstal from approved schools for criminal offences commited either in the schools or while at large as absconders.

Lads in Borstals were well used to corporal-punishment, and did not respect Borstal Governors who did not dish it out.

Official birching in Borstals was quite a rare event, even though the equipment for such punishment was kept at every borstal institution.

Most lads were institutionalised themselves by the time they reached borstal, and had a code of conduct that included not showing fear of punishment. Many ex-Borstal lads have come foreward with stories of 'off the record ' birchings that took place in various borstals, but up until recently such stories were ignored by the authorities, and most of these alleged birchings took place before the mid-1950s.

Caning and leathering was another matter, although not part of official borstal punishment, a caning or leathering was considered better than most of the other punishments on offer, and was accepted as part of the borstal culture by the lads who never complained about such punishments.

PT borstal instructors used the plimsoll regularly on lads, and the cold shower was also part of this culture of spartan discipline that everyone accepted. John Vidler , the deputy governor of Feltham Borstal in 1932 said that the Governor of feltham, James Holt, used to award early morning cold baths for lazyness for a certain period. The governor used to enter the cold-bath awards on the punishment sheets which went to head office.This punishment was very effective for a long period of time, with frightened lads lined up every morning waiting for their turn in the bath.

The Governor himself supervised the punishment parade, and naked lads stood to attention in the main shower block, as others took turns in groups using the showeres and toilets, looking on to see how their comrades faired in the bath. The bath had been filled the night before up to a few inches from the top. Each lad had to march up to the bath when told, stand in the bath, then sit and go under the water up to their necks without spilling any over the side. Here they remained for five or ten minutes, as prescribed by the Governor, and then had to get out, again being careful not to plash much water over the side, and run on the spot to dry off as the next lad marched up for his turn.

Any lad spilling too much water over the side of the bath was given 12 with the plimsoll on the bare buttocks and made to go back in again. This regime was upset a bit when one lad applied to be allowed to continue this punishment because he had come to enjoy it, and did not want to give it up.Some of the other punishments were loss of remission (feared most), restricted diet (hated), or breaking stones in a courtyard (disliked).Although official these punishments were disliked and thought of as un-manly, and lads awarded these punishments would often ask the Governor if they could be given an alternative. These alternative was known as 'home-punishment', the borstal slang for corporal punishment, probably because corporal punishment would have been the norm at home, at that time, given by their dad, and many lads regarded borstal-officers as dads, which can be seen by the many letters sent to officers after a lad was released.

The deputy Governor said that many times in later years he found that the lads who had recieved the most drastic punishments turned into the best citizens.One lad that the deputy Governor remembers had a very bad time at Feltham borstal and lost all his remission The lad was discharged in 1933 and later wrote a letter to the governor a few years later.

"Dear Sir, The stiff discipline worked well with me at Feltham sir."

He said that his attitude to punishment had matured in the outside world, and that he had deserved all he got in borstal. Many lads looked upon the officers as father-figures and returned for visits.when they had problems to talk over. And there was a culture up until the mid-1950s of retired Borstal Officers taking in lads who had nowhere to live after leaving borstal. A network of retired Officers and others ready to give these lads a home and a stable enviroment after leaving, was needed, as many of the lads had no homes to go to, and were institutionalised into a strict, regulated life. Unable to think for themselves, they soon went off the rails when authority was suddenly withdrawn.

However many lads were eager to get away from authority, some did have homes to go to, and others knowing that moving in with someone connected to the borstal system would mean less freedom than living on their own, tried to go it alone.One lad who left Stoke Heath borstal decided to turn down the offer of a home from a retired stoke Heath Officer. He was picked up a week later by the local police trying to break into the scout hut. He claimed that he was not stealing, and just wanted somewhere to sleep for the night.

In later years he said that the local Police told him that he could take up the offer of a place to live that had been offered him, or they would charge him with breaking and entering."I decided to take up the offer, and was delivered to the door of a retired borstal officer. "He looked very old to me, but he was no pushover."" I was taken to an upstairs bedroom an told to undress, I was given boiler room overalls to put on." "Bent over the kitchen table I was given a hiding with a cane before my grubb was dished up, he said 'best to start out as we meen to go on lad' was his Idea." "Despite the caning I slept well, I felt like I'd come home."

Borstal governors spoke openly about their use of the cane, and there was never any investigation of these methods by the authorities.Nearly all the officers were ex-Army and Navy, and were all disciplinarians, 'stern but fair'. These views lasted a long time, T.L. Iremonger, M.P. said in 1962,

" The birch has a unique quality as a penal weapon."" It's unique quality is, I suggest, that it causes physical pain and a degree of humiliation to which any young man will find almost impossable to ignore."