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2 June 2008
NO 1304
Work
The development of the English penal system
has been cyclical with fashions continually being rotated, but very few
radical ideas being introduced. For example in the 1850's Alexander
Maconochie (Playfair, 1971) as governor of Birmingham gaol, implemented
what he called the `mark' system, basically this system meant that the
treatment a prisoner received depended on the number of marks which he
earned for industriousness and forfeited for bad conduct. Maconochie
believed
that labour should be the coin in which all `debts to society' were
paid. He hoped that eventually a prisoner who accumulated more than the
minimum number of daily marks required of him would be able to expend
the surplus on purchasing a remission of sentence instead of food.
Notice how closely this system implemented over a hundred years ago
resembles the `grade' system still employed by innumerable approved
schools. Also note how closely it is aligned to the ideas of Miss
Kathleen Smith (1965), a former assistant governor of Holloway, which
were published in 1965 to quite considerable acclaim. Miss Smith
proposed what she called the 'self-determinate sentence', under which
prisoners should pay for their crimes by their labour.
Lest it should be felt that the experience of the English penal system has little relevance to today's Community Schools, it should be remembered that the approved schools were the direct offspring of the penal system sired by a more humane society than that prepared to accept the horrors of Newgate prison. As West (1967) points out in a section on the development of approved schools:
"The number of juveniles incarcerated in prisons with adults gradually decreased, until the Children's Act of 1908 finally abolished imprisonment for those under fourteen, and placed restrictions on the imprisonment of those in the fourteen to sixteen age groups. The reform schools in England and the houses of refuge in the USA. served to rescue young people from the adult gaols, and to give young paupers and criminals (at that time these categories were scarcely distinguishable) a chance to learn a job and earn their bread. These schools long preceded the establishment of compulsory school. They were the precursors of the present day approved schools, which are institutions run by local authorities or private persons, `approved' and inspected by the Home Office."
He continues by pointing out the present day reality:
"In general Borstals lay great emphasis on training in habits of steady work and on trying to arouse interest in a job. The aims are of course particularly appropriate to the large number of incompetent and work shy youngsters with whom they have to deal. Everyone puts in a full day's work and the tasks provided are useful and constructive such as building, farming, carpentry and mechanics. Trade training courses, utilizing skilled instructors and impressive workshops are given to those sufficiently able and conscientious to follow them."
West's comments are equally appropriate to erstwhile intermediate (aged between thirteen and fifteen years) and senior (fifteen to eighteen years) approved schools, as witnessed by the impressive array of trade departments, the high quality of their output and the omnipresent staff attitude of teaching boys a pride in their job and that nobody gets `aught for nought'.
NORMAN S. TUTT
Tutt, Norman S. (1972). The Devil makes work for idle hands. The Child in Care, 12, 7. Residential Child Care Association, UK. pp. 15-16.
REFERENCES
Playfair, G., (1971). The punitive obsession. London. Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Smith, K. J. (1965). A cure for crime. London. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
West, D. J. (1967). The young offender. Middlesex. Penguin Books Ltd.
