The Gospel of Work

When a British prison commissioner, Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise, visited a model U.S. reformatory in 1902, he first became convinced that a bad apple can spoil a barrel. Back in England, he yanked some young offenders out of the regular prisons, moved them away from the older, rottener apples to a Kentish village called Borstal. There he began an experiment in straightening out youngsters gone wrong. Its basic idea: "the gospel of work."

This week the 21st branch "Borstal," on the Earl of Plymouth's Worcestershire estate, opened its doors. Working without supervision, an advance party of Borstal boys began to restore the Earl of Plymouth's formal gardens and help convert his 52-bedroom mansion into a home for 150 Borstal delinquents. In their spare time they studied engineering and carpentering. Before the Borstal boys arrived, the worried villagers had thrown up their hands at the prospect of such "rough, nasty" neighbors; now some of them had invited the boys into their homes.

There are Borstals of varying degrees, ranging from Sherwood Prison (a fairly rough place for chronic repeaters and the toughest offenders) to North Sea Camp (more like a farm-school than a prison). English juvenile delinquents, after "weighing in" (sentencing), are sent to Wormwood Scrubs Boys' Prison for classifying. From Wormwood Scrubs they are shipped to the Borstal that best suits their record and personality. They do not always agree with the choice: a recurring Borstal headache is "scarpering" (running away).

Among the best of the "open" Borstals is Lowdham Grange, near Nottingham. Designed for backward delinquents of 18 and 19, Lowdham has no locks and bars (except for two small punishment rooms). In their blue shorts and jackets, with house neckties of red, blue or yellow, the Lowdham boys might almost be mistaken for public school products. Housemasters get to know the boys individually, appoint house leaders and captains to keep order. The boys learn such things as cooking, shoe-repairing, painting, reading.

After one or two years at a Borstal like Lowdham, ex-delinquents are discharged by the governor "on license" for another year. During this probation they must keep in touch with members of the Borstal Association--adults who volunteer to help them find jobs, a place to live and the right kind of recreation.

Although boys are from 16 to 23 when they get sent to Borstals, two out of three go straight after their discharge. The one in three who doesn't (to judge by the headlines in London tabloids) generally makes Dillinger look like a do-gooder. But despite music-hall jokes about the Borstal old school tie, for every noisy failure the system can point to a quiet, honest accountant, truck-driver or farmer who learned his trade there. One of the Borstal prides & joys: an old boy who has now risen to become "director of three companies, with a 16-horsepower car."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.