Came across your crime & prison videos today, 90% of which I’ve not seen before, where have all these come from they’re absolute quality, will keep me busy in the evenings for a few weeks, cheers keep up the good work 👍🏻
54 years ago....life has changed beyond recognition . The year i was born? My old man was in Borstal, In Kent i think.Hes gone now. God bless him. South London boys both of us and now im an old man. Well 50 odd plus. Man alive life goes by in the blink of an eye.
Carlin, is it? Don't look much to me, Carlin... you're the little toerag who thumped the officer at Rowley... fancy yerself do ya, Carlin? Thumpin' officers, eh?
I’ve seen some of these videos before but they disappeared. Good to see some new stuff(even if it is 50 years old) on this channel. Great stuff. Thanks.
I went through the system aged 13. By then it was called "local authority secure care". Turned me around in 3 months. I hadn't been convicted of any crime, but i was possibly on my way there. It was harsh, brutal, but character building. Never looked back. Got work at 18, held a number of senior positions in my life, including head of department in a major national rail company, ironically running a prosecution unit, and now a law enforcement officer. Bring this system back it works. Young men need the guidance i never got at home.
I'm glad to have been born in 71, I got the chance to see the country a while before the digital era came and really kicked in, creating the fears, paranoia and the sense of hopelessness that we now see today. It was a tougher life growing up in the 70's and 80's, though there was always a sense of hope and optimism. Sadly those senses have been almost deliberately' stripped away.
Britain was run badly until we entered the EU where many things improved. It had become rotten to the core before we left recently. We are now on the march towards a global communism with Russia, China USA and UK and Europe all signed up to it complete by 2030. These changes are going to be big and broad changes starting with Hawaii and Italy as these pillars of change take place. We will indeed ''own nothing'' and apparently ''be happier''. I'm sorry but taking action in your own affairs and taking agency in the affairs is what should bring us happiness. All choices will be lost and I will even lose the ownership of my own home. If I have spare rooms then I have no say into who will occupy those spare bedrooms.
100% mate, I was born in 74' in Belfast during the troubles, 70s and 80s were mad but if I had the choice to grow up then or now, I'd choose our era over todays.
That's because they actually were!. Very, very few were drug addicts and pushers, the majority of them had 2 parents and brothers and sisters who were all from the same stable! Plenty did reoffend but nothing like the rates we see today. Your average standard 15 yr old British lad of 1967 was nothing, not a single thing, like your average 15 yr old today!!!!
@@bushratbeachbum lol these types of people don’t care about the genuine human suffering that went on they just want it all white. If you actually dumped them back in the all white past then unless they’re upper class or something they’d be crying like babies wanting to return to the present 🙄
@@bushratbeachbumYes, having an unreasonably positive disposition towards the past goes hand in glove with many of the nastiest political ideas that are festering in present-day Britain. It's all very useful for those who don't want you to think about the real reasons that our civilisation is on the skids
@@-----hk6jj he broke out of most young offenders places he was put in as a teenager they eventually put him in in Portland as it was more secure. None of what he ever did was violent crime or burglary by the way it was stealing and breaking into shops etc back in those days they would lock you up even for that.
I'm sorry he's gone. whatever became of him after this? How long did he live after this and how did he die? Did he have ups and downs as his life went on- where it seemed his life was working out?
@@frankpaya690he died in 2015 of pancreatic cancer aged 64.He had 3 children was married and divorced once was a good bloke,never went looking for trouble and kept to himself but was able to look after himself 🙏
Good channel that I've only just come across, I've already watched a few of these old documentaries but it looks like you've put loads of them onto TH-cam, good one mate it'll keep me occupied for a while watching em I hadn't realised so many older prison documentaries had been made.
Fanedit, I hope you have monetised this channel coz you would deserve every penny of it. Your material is amazing and will be viewed by millions soon. Thankyou so much.
I was at Portland Borstal 1969/70 after escaping from Guys Marsh. Everyone went into Grenville which was the reception wing. Then you would be allocated your House. Either Drake, Benbow, Raleigh or Nelson. I went into Nelson and was lucky to do a 6month Mech Eng course under Mr Petty. I got City & Guilds. I managed to complete my training in 13 months and was released in August 1970. Funny I dont recognise any of the housemasters in the video. I dont remember the BBC being there. Maybe they were filming in another house. I thought it was ok there. Not too much trouble. Taught me a trade.
@shaunmclorinan9656 - Your world must be very small and miserable if you think that someone would go into TH-cam comments and pretend that they went to borstal.
Medomsley in Consett was an absolute hell hole! Riddled with paedophiles and sadistic evil staff. So many of those lads committed suicide over the years because they were truly traumatised.
Fella I know from Rhymney Gwent South Wales went here,it didn't learn him,hes 55 in May,and still dogy,hes been in trouble from the age of 15,and now 55 in May pathetic!!!!!
Feel bad for him if he is carrying severe trauma from childhood. If he is genuinely just a wrongun then unfortunately for him it's probably best for the general public if he is behind bars.
Never been diagnosed but Im sure I have adhd , as a kid I could never settle in class and was constantly on the move I was taken out of school as I was disrupting the others and put into a home for difficult children , I was not a bad boy just hyper , still am . In that home I was10 years old some of the other boys were upto 14/15 ... not saying what happened to me in there and it was not the adults .
I was in an establishment in the very early 80's known as Rose Hill on Longley lane, Manchester. I was put in there for stealing money from a teacher's purse at Bollin Cross school,Style, Cheshire. I always thought it was a borstal, but someone told me it was a " secure " children's home. I certainly remember bars on the windows and dormitories. Can anyone shed any light on the subject?; 🤔
The Criminal Justice Act 1982 officially abolished the borstal system in the UK, introducing youth custody centres instead. Basically Borstals were rebranded.
This is an excellent documentary I remember man alive programs when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s I wish they would make programs of this quality these days! People seemed to be much more intelligent and have more common sense then than they do now! Also the prison staff seemed to be serious about trying to help these lads to sort their lives out
I remember being put in a half way house for a few weeks at the age of 13 in the early 80's. If I carried on, Borstal awaited me. Scared me to death and from then on I behaved and got on in life. Just the sheer mention of Borstal used to instil fear into a lot of young men. Should bring them back, but I fear it's too late for them to be effective.
I like how they call them trainees, the only thing they are being trained for is how to be adult prisoners when they become old enough for men's prisons.
@@michaelharrison3602when I was in Hindley they had a film crew there for a series called human jigsaw and I was interviewed by them, it was shown on telly in 1985, i looked a right tw-t lol
The movie Scum was the most realistic portrayal of Borstal in the 70s, violence from officers was commonplace.. not all staff, but the ones who didn’t use violence turned a blind eye to the ones who did. In truth there were some decent staff who really tried their best. In 1982 the Borstal system was abolished and all sentences were changed from 6-2 to a straight 8 months, which meant hundreds were released on the same day.
roy minton did loads of research before he started writing the script for scum. he interviewed lads about their experience and with Alan Clark made a devastating film (who also did Made In Britain).
Did Borstal training in 1983. And the brutality was off the chart's. From both trainees. And staff. I was once extorted by staff members to savagely assault a suspended sex offender with another lad. If not, this guardian of ours. And his colleagues where going to do the same to us. I ended up getting 9 month's added to my sentence for thing's as trivial as being an "average" trainee. Saying that, if I hadn't broken the law. I'd have never been in that situation. Basically though, Borstal training was pure and simply, gladiator school for young males.
Great video, my dad was born in the 50s. He always said the mere mention of borstal would make you tow the line. They really were used as a deterrent. I always have visions of it being like the film scum lol!!!
Went to Kirklevington d.c. in 83 6 weeks later in strangeways e wing borstal allocation center, on to Hindley borstal, never worked many sentences, and 16 and half years behind the door later, now 57 finally learnt my lesson
I was dying to read the comments, as ot that old, but I remember watching things like World in Action and After Dark. Compare that to the guff you see being made nowadays. People who say we are now in a ‘golden age of television’ are talking out of their arse, try comparing something like ‘The One Show’ to programmes like ‘Parkinson’ or ‘The Dick Cavett Show’ it’s night and day folks. That’s not to say the past was some wonderous place either.
Joined the army in the mid 70’s, the deputy governor sounds like a senior ex army officer, maybe a major. In and out of Borstal and in and out of prison, same today as back then and only a few want to improve themselves the majority of offenders make a career out of it. I know this as I’m a retired copper from Greater Manchester.
There was a particularly 'no-nonsense' teacher at my secondary school in the 80s who all the kids nicknamed 'Borstal'. I think it was a playground urban legend that he used to be a warder at such an establishment. While in the 1st year, one of my mates was asked by another teacher, "Who's teaching your next class?", to which he replied with all sincerity, "Ken Borstal, sir", thinking it was his real name! The teacher gave him a proper shouting at! 😂😂
I find it interesting that they're talking about the potential benefits of either being treated more harshly or having the option to serve in the Army instead of the daily Borstal routine. When I see young prisoners on film these days they're usually boasting of their crimes often in the form of a low quality drill rap. The contrast is really interesting to see. Thank you for uploading this. Man Alive presented a really interesting snapshot of the social history of the UK. It's a little before my time. I'm 51 so most of these documentaries were filmed a few years before I was born.
The screws in places like this were notorious for the brutality they dished out on a daily basis physically and mentally only many year's later was it brought to national attention with some former 'P/O's' arrested charged and convicted whilst other's involved had died over the years!!
done Portland borstal 1981, 1982 1983, done 3 stints first borstal, then a 4 month borstal recall, then in 1983 it had changed to yc and done 9 months, i was in hardy house, then Grenville house, then Rodney just before release, when i was recalled went straight back into Grenville, on my 3rd visit i was in drake house, had 2 Christmases in there 81 & 82 didn't have anyone to send money in for Christmas so had to settle for the queens £1.00 Christmas parcel, which was dried fruit juice , just ad water, and biscuits and a few sweets...no baccy i was education orderly, and was told i only got that job , because i had been back 3 time lol, learnt a lot but to me it wasn't hard, crazy now aged 60 and still have memories of the place, hard to wonder where the 41 yrs has gone since being there, can even remember the swimming pool there on my first wack, but closed by my 2nd 3rd time there, and also playing football in the old quarry lol, think my last weekly wage was £1.75 enough to buy 3/4 ounce of baccy and papers, still have my original education orderly photocopy pass, that i smuggled out of my radio , told the screw i lost my pass and got a replacement remember playing the screws snooker for a packet of biscuits or a mars bar if you lost regards to anyone who done the borstal training.
@@ianwhitehead691 thanks for the sound advice 41 yrs late, like i needed your advice now , i was passing on my experience to others to stay out the system, for what its worth i didn't reoffend after 1983 ok
I was in Drake, 83 - 84. Did 12 months out of 18, youth custody. The Police song, Every Breath You Take, was playing on the van radio as they drove us through the gates. Wasn't the powdered drink called Rise and Shine ? I quite liked it.
They is a documentary on hindley prision yp in about 98 I would love u to find that I am on for 3 seconds and my m8 for about 10 seconds it’s definitely out there good luck with ur channel it’s brilliant
You will see the chaplain tomorrow Archer and there will be no more talk of MECCA!!! In this establishment! Get him issued with the boots! About turn! Move it Archer!
I was on that wing called Grenville in 2007 and it hasn't changed 1 bit. It's been demolished now. Still didn't have toilets or sinks even in 2007. When I first arrived the nurse said to me "don't worry it's nit really shank city like they say"
When I schoolboy (1970s, East London), I had Saturday job at my uncle's butchers shop. I had a mate who was a good kid and no trouble but couldn't find a job. His dad told him to throw a brick through a shop window and wait for the Police! From that point on the state would look after him, find him a job or trade, all at the tax payers expense! He never did that but some parent hey!
So different than the jails here. They actually got to have privacy while they changed out of their street clothes & into prison uniforms. Most of the time you are strip searched & in front of everyone.
When I was a kid and stepped out of line my dad would threaten me with Birstall, I didn’t know what it meant but he told me it’s a prison for kids. I didn’t like the sound of it so kept out of trouble. . Then I watched ‘Scum’ And was glad I kept out of trouble ! The same went for my two younger brothers.
Just baffled by how reasonable this seems, the producers seem to be advertising for it rather than showing an accurate depiction. The reality was they were brutal cynical places as well, inmate on inmate violence was more or less accepted, staff on inmate violence equally so, not sure if formal corporal punishment was an official option (it still was in regular schools) but it certainly was unofficially and yet barely a whiff of that in this programme. If Channel 4 had been around then I suspect this doc would be closer to “Scum” in the final edi😂
How the world has changed dramatically eh , the woke brigade of today wouldn't last 5 minutes back then , back when there was only 2 genders for example 😅😅 great videos truly fascinating stuff , i done a few years in prison in Scotland I'm only 40 but dear me they should bring borstal back sort the youths out of today , suppose human rights woukd get shouted alot these days 😅😅😅
Dover. 2 months basic grade (blue knitted tie), 4 months training grade (red) two months senior training grade (green), one month discharge grade (brown) City and Guilds Intermediate Diploma in Carpentry.
great kiwi punk band song from 1980 ,thr tearaways never been to borstal,the borstal model was exported around the western part of Britains Empire ,here in New zealand it was Waikeria ,middle of nowhere north island ,where wayward youth put by the courts stayed .basically stepping stone to the NZ prison system and made these youths who later went to prison hardened criminalswho went on to join a gang and gang life and in and out of prison ,the whole system just produced hard men that hated society and its rules and the system that put them in jail .the begining of all our gangs can be traced back to first kids being removed from home and put in care of the state .then onto borstal as youth then on to the big house adult prison
Just avoid the greenhouse…
Unless... you don't want to avoid the greenhouse;
@@grobbler1it'll be full I reckon 😂😂
@@stuartsmith8562 Plenty of windows too for those who don't 'enter.'
Avoid Barry
😂😂
Came across your crime & prison videos today, 90% of which I’ve not seen before, where have all these come from they’re absolute quality, will keep me busy in the evenings for a few weeks, cheers keep up the good work 👍🏻
Cheers
Agreed,just came across em last night too,love em & keep dem coming
Me too, great stuff. Love it
@@Fanedit-hb8brfantastic video hopefully you put out more.
@@Fanedit-hb8brhere in America 🇺🇸 once you hit 18 you were in adult prison. Over there they keep you up to 21 in borstal or juvenile prison I guess.
54 years ago....life has changed beyond recognition . The year i was born? My old man was in Borstal, In Kent i think.Hes gone now. God bless him. South London boys both of us and now im an old man. Well 50 odd plus. Man alive life goes by in the blink of an eye.
Spot on …👍👍
Carlin, is it? Don't look much to me, Carlin... you're the little toerag who thumped the officer at Rowley... fancy yerself do ya, Carlin? Thumpin' officers, eh?
It really does go fast mate
Carlin: Where's your tool?
@@Venmaylove Baldy: What tool?
I’ve seen some of these videos before but they disappeared. Good to see some new stuff(even if it is 50 years old) on this channel. Great stuff. Thanks.
I went through the system aged 13. By then it was called "local authority secure care". Turned me around in 3 months. I hadn't been convicted of any crime, but i was possibly on my way there. It was harsh, brutal, but character building. Never looked back. Got work at 18, held a number of senior positions in my life, including head of department in a major national rail company, ironically running a prosecution unit, and now a law enforcement officer. Bring this system back it works. Young men need the guidance i never got at home.
All depends on the integrity of the people providing the guidance.
Your story is not typical though Jim is it ?
@Jack-pk4uv no for themajority it just ead to getting the shit kicked out of them by the srews and resenting authority.
I'm glad to have been born in 71, I got the chance to see the country a while before the digital era came and really kicked in, creating the fears, paranoia and the sense of hopelessness that we now see today.
It was a tougher life growing up in the 70's and 80's, though there was always a sense of hope and optimism.
Sadly those senses have been almost deliberately' stripped away.
Britain was run badly until we entered the EU where many things improved. It had become rotten to the core before we left recently. We are now on the march towards a global communism with Russia, China USA and UK and Europe all signed up to it complete by 2030. These changes are going to be big and broad changes starting with Hawaii and Italy as these pillars of change take place. We will indeed ''own nothing'' and apparently ''be happier''. I'm sorry but taking action in your own affairs and taking agency in the affairs is what should bring us happiness. All choices will be lost and I will even lose the ownership of my own home. If I have spare rooms then I have no say into who will occupy those spare bedrooms.
@@dunki-dunki-dawgabsolute rubbish you deluded fool.
100% mate, I was born in 74' in Belfast during the troubles, 70s and 80s were mad but if I had the choice to grow up then or now, I'd choose our era over todays.
@@dunki-dunki-dawg Are you serious? The EU was the fast track to communism!!!
I think exactly the same l was born in 75 making go carts with silver Cross prams and causing havoc with catapults.
It seems that everyone was so much more intelligent back then
No tiktok
That's because they actually were!. Very, very few were drug addicts and pushers, the majority of them had 2 parents and brothers and sisters who were all from the same stable!
Plenty did reoffend but nothing like the rates we see today. Your average standard 15 yr old British lad of 1967 was nothing, not a single thing, like your average 15 yr old today!!!!
@@501sqn3hahaha, you for real?
Russian troll
@@zeddeka Absolutely, though I doubt very much that you are!.🤦
Thanks for all these uploads. That's me sorted for a few months 👍
Miss man alive. Great programme n iconic music
Produced by Tony Hatch and his Orchestra 👍
Was on bbc2 then I think from 1965 to 1982.
panorama and world in action too. awesome documentaries.
This country has changed to a point it almostt brings a tear to my eye.
Weird comment on a Borstal documentary. Do you mean you’re upset that prisons are not all white anymore? 😂
You miss the days of abuse hidden behind red tape and violence around every corner do you?
@@bushratbeachbum lol these types of people don’t care about the genuine human suffering that went on they just want it all white. If you actually dumped them back in the all white past then unless they’re upper class or something they’d be crying like babies wanting to return to the present 🙄
@@bushratbeachbumYes, having an unreasonably positive disposition towards the past goes hand in glove with many of the nastiest political ideas that are festering in present-day Britain. It's all very useful for those who don't want you to think about the real reasons that our civilisation is on the skids
@@granitesevan6243 so true, i love watching old archive videos and docs but my god the comments are usually filled with that kind of rubbish
Thank you for uploading this that's my late brother at 1:20 ❤ 🙏🙏🙏
That's so cool you can find a memory of him encapsulated like this! Do you mind me asking what he did to get there ?
@@-----hk6jj he broke out of most young offenders places he was put in as a teenager they eventually put him in in Portland as it was more secure. None of what he ever did was violent crime or burglary by the way it was stealing and breaking into shops etc back in those days they would lock you up even for that.
@@waynegoodman3345 Do you know what year he was at this borstal?
I'm sorry he's gone. whatever became of him after this? How long did he live after this and how did he die?
Did he have ups and downs as his life went on- where it seemed his life was working out?
@@frankpaya690he died in 2015 of pancreatic cancer aged 64.He had 3 children was married and divorced once was a good bloke,never went looking for trouble and kept to himself but was able to look after himself 🙏
What a great documentary programme Man Alive was ... good quality journalism from the B.B.C.
Was on bbc2 then at the time.
Good channel that I've only just come across, I've already watched a few of these old documentaries but it looks like you've put loads of them onto TH-cam, good one mate it'll keep me occupied for a while watching em I hadn't realised so many older prison documentaries had been made.
Done borstal twice deerbolt then everthope I think myself I was treated really well at both borstals learnt my trade in there cook and still into it
Is it true about what could happen in there? It could be brutal?
I done Deerbolt and Everthorpe in the 70s
Fanedit, I hope you have monetised this channel coz you would deserve every penny of it. Your material is amazing and will be viewed by millions soon. Thankyou so much.
Great channel mate, some real gems
I was at Portland Borstal 1969/70 after escaping from Guys Marsh. Everyone went into Grenville which was the reception wing. Then you would be allocated your House.
Either Drake, Benbow, Raleigh or Nelson. I went into Nelson and was lucky to do a 6month Mech Eng course under Mr Petty. I got City & Guilds. I managed to complete my training in 13 months and was released in August 1970. Funny I dont recognise any of the housemasters in the video. I dont remember the BBC being there. Maybe they were filming in another house. I thought it was ok there. Not too much trouble. Taught me a trade.
Aye sure mate
You was prob biting your pillow at the time.
@@shaunmclorinan9656 your a sad individual if you think the mans going to make up a story what happened 50 plus years ago. behave yourself Numpty
@shaunmclorinan9656 - Your world must be very small and miserable if you think that someone would go into TH-cam comments and pretend that they went to borstal.
I was in Portland 1969to 70 nelson house
thanks for the uploads
First broadcast on Wednesday 8th July 1970 at 8pm on BBC2.
I’ve been in Wetherby , Everthorpe and Deerbolt. All previous borstals but were YOI in 80s when I was in em.
it would be good if you wrote about it here. it's essential information historians ignore.
A couple of my mates have recently had pay outs because they were abused in medomsley borstal by staff.
Boys homes etc had terrible reputations and rightly so..... still being uncovered today for abusive systems.
Paid out big moneybhete to in belfast from 13 gs up to 90gs
@@gilsog8515 thats a lot of ciggies and white lightning init laaaaaahhh!!!!
Medomsley in Consett was an absolute hell hole! Riddled with paedophiles and sadistic evil staff. So many of those lads committed suicide over the years because they were truly traumatised.
Superb series.
I remember this episode well. Incredible to realize how long ago this was, but many young lads endured. Now, of course, old men.
How the face of our jails has changed.
Fella I know from Rhymney Gwent South Wales went here,it didn't learn him,hes 55 in May,and still dogy,hes been in trouble from the age of 15,and now 55 in May pathetic!!!!!
Feel bad for him if he is carrying severe trauma from childhood. If he is genuinely just a wrongun then unfortunately for him it's probably best for the general public if he is behind bars.
Never been diagnosed but Im sure I have adhd , as a kid I could never settle in class and was constantly on the move
I was taken out of school as I was disrupting the others and put into a home for difficult children , I was not a bad boy
just hyper , still am .
In that home I was10 years old some of the other boys were upto 14/15 ... not saying what happened to me in there
and it was not the adults .
Fantastic video
The lad giving the old boy a shave and a haircut - I really hope he made it on the outside. He had a proper way with people.
Exactly how many deputy governors were there at this place ??
Was in Dover in the 80s , and whenever we played up ; they'd say their going to send us to Portland
Ahhh did-ems
Rochester.
Portland, Maine ? Stephen king was born there 🤣🤣🤣
I was in an establishment in the very early 80's known as Rose Hill on Longley lane, Manchester. I was put in there for stealing money from a teacher's purse at Bollin Cross school,Style, Cheshire. I always thought it was a borstal, but someone told me it was a " secure " children's home. I certainly remember bars on the windows and dormitories. Can anyone shed any light on the subject?; 🤔
The Criminal Justice Act 1982 officially abolished the borstal system in the UK, introducing youth custody centres instead.
Basically Borstals were rebranded.
Subbed kidda. Nice to see old vids.
This is an excellent documentary I remember man alive programs when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s I wish they would make programs of this quality these days! People seemed to be much more intelligent and have more common sense then than they do now! Also the prison staff seemed to be serious about trying to help these lads to sort their lives out
4737 carlin sir!
@@crok22 where's ya tool?
Right Banks you barstard
"I'm The Daddy round here!"
@@Andrew-z9b what tool? This fackin tool!
You called.
I remember being put in a half way house for a few weeks at the age of 13 in the early 80's. If I carried on, Borstal awaited me. Scared me to death and from then on I behaved and got on in life. Just the sheer mention of Borstal used to instil fear into a lot of young men. Should bring them back, but I fear it's too late for them to be effective.
I like how they call them trainees, the only thing they are being trained for is how to be adult prisoners when they become old enough for men's prisons.
True the only thing I learned in prison was how to commit more crimes 😅
When ever there are visitors or cameras they put on better food and refrain from using violence 😅
Strange sewing mail bags never made me a tailor although the mailbag shop was called tailor shop 1
@@michaelharrison3602when I was in Hindley they had a film crew there for a series called human jigsaw and I was interviewed by them, it was shown on telly in 1985, i looked a right tw-t lol
The movie Scum was the most realistic portrayal of Borstal in the 70s, violence from officers was commonplace.. not all staff, but the ones who didn’t use violence turned a blind eye to the ones who did. In truth there were some decent staff who really tried their best. In 1982 the Borstal system was abolished and all sentences were changed from 6-2 to a straight 8 months, which meant hundreds were released on the same day.
I would guess as well too.
@andrewstones2921 that film was so too I have seen it too.
roy minton did loads of research before he started writing the script for scum. he interviewed lads about their experience and with Alan Clark made a devastating film (who also did Made In Britain).
Did Borstal training in 1983. And the brutality was off the chart's. From both trainees. And staff. I was once extorted by staff members to savagely assault a suspended sex offender with another lad. If not, this guardian of ours. And his colleagues where going to do the same to us. I ended up getting 9 month's added to my sentence for thing's as trivial as being an "average" trainee.
Saying that, if I hadn't broken the law. I'd have never been in that situation. Basically though, Borstal training was pure and simply, gladiator school for young males.
I got Borstal in 83. Though Scottish law may have changed later?
Great video, my dad was born in the 50s. He always said the mere mention of borstal would make you tow the line. They really were used as a deterrent. I always have visions of it being like the film scum lol!!!
My old man used to cut there hair in the 60s…said most of the lads were just unfortunate upbringings…but there were a few wrong uns….quite dangerous
Went to Kirklevington d.c. in 83 6 weeks later in strangeways e wing borstal allocation center, on to Hindley borstal, never worked many sentences, and 16 and half years behind the door later, now 57 finally learnt my lesson
"As for work Sir, I dont want to be a gardener, especially greenhouse's and definitely nowhere near coal or pool tables."
Notoriously slippery floors around those kind of things
I was dying to read the comments, as ot that old, but I remember watching things like World in Action and After Dark. Compare that to the guff you see being made nowadays.
People who say we are now in a ‘golden age of television’ are talking out of their arse, try comparing something like ‘The One Show’ to programmes like ‘Parkinson’ or ‘The Dick Cavett Show’ it’s night and day folks.
That’s not to say the past was some wonderous place either.
I think they're referring to expensive, well made US dramas rather than the One show!
@neilmclaughlin2347 you are right there. After dark was on channel 4 then later bbc four. World in action on itv until it ended in 1998 so too.
Even in prison they used to dress smarter than most of the youth of today
Grumpy old man
excellent commentary uk 🇬🇧 manchester
At 14 mins 45 secs is that a young Nick Faldo, Steve Davis and Simon Pegg ?
Robert Shaw afterwards..😆
Joined the army in the mid 70’s, the deputy governor sounds like a senior ex army officer, maybe a major.
In and out of Borstal and in and out of prison, same today as back then and only a few want to improve themselves the majority of offenders make a career out of it.
I know this as I’m a retired copper from Greater Manchester.
Notice the lack of black kids , also no fat kids. How times have changed!
Indeed so too.
portland is down south, maybe it was different in other parts of the country.
@@craigprice1567 they have indeed.
Maybe they were better behaved?
@@skeezoideluxeNo, the black population was much, much smaller then.
There was a particularly 'no-nonsense' teacher at my secondary school in the 80s who all the kids nicknamed 'Borstal'. I think it was a playground urban legend that he used to be a warder at such an establishment. While in the 1st year, one of my mates was asked by another teacher, "Who's teaching your next class?", to which he replied with all sincerity, "Ken Borstal, sir", thinking it was his real name! The teacher gave him a proper shouting at! 😂😂
I find it interesting that they're talking about the potential benefits of either being treated more harshly or having the option to serve in the Army instead of the daily Borstal routine. When I see young prisoners on film these days they're usually boasting of their crimes often in the form of a low quality drill rap. The contrast is really interesting to see. Thank you for uploading this. Man Alive presented a really interesting snapshot of the social history of the UK. It's a little before my time. I'm 51 so most of these documentaries were filmed a few years before I was born.
I wonder how many of theses kids ended up dead or in prison.
Judging by the lad saying 2/6 and the April calendar behind the governor I would say this is 1970
Decent staff trying to reform the lads, very fair documentary. Where are those boys now.
As we know now, borstals were absolutely appalling places, often with elements of sexual and physical abuse by staff.
Carlin at 34:54
Who????
IM THE DADDY IN HERE?
@@CARLIN4737 hahaha 😂
😅that does actually look like Ray winston
You'll get yer perks , but for Me , I run A wing.......
Borstal looked rough if I was a young lad in there especially first time I would keep away from any job in the greenhouse.
Was in youth custody in 1989, got in a fight first week.Ended up in the block, hated being confined.
Wow you're hard.
The staff member giving the introductory speech... not exactly General Patton, is he?
As soon as the TV crew had left, I bet the screws kicked the shit out of the cons that spoke out to the interviewer.
😂🤣 I wouldn't be surprised
Yeah I was thinking how the screws were putting on an act cos of all the cameras being there.
I nearly ended up in Borstal when I lived in Salford in the 70s. I was glad to leave Salford when I did.
Most people are probably glad to leave Salford
Unless you were L.S. Lowry.😁
@@ianwhitehead691 who did he play for? City or Utd?
The screws in places like this were notorious for the brutality they dished out on a daily basis physically and mentally only many year's later was it brought to national attention with some former 'P/O's' arrested charged and convicted whilst other's involved had died over the years!!
done Portland borstal 1981, 1982 1983, done 3 stints first borstal, then a 4 month borstal recall, then in 1983 it had changed to yc and done 9 months, i was in hardy house, then Grenville house, then Rodney just before release, when i was recalled went straight back into Grenville, on my 3rd visit i was in drake house, had 2 Christmases in there 81 & 82 didn't have anyone to send money in for Christmas so had to settle for the queens £1.00 Christmas parcel, which was dried fruit juice , just ad water, and biscuits and a few sweets...no baccy
i was education orderly, and was told i only got that job , because i had been back 3 time lol, learnt a lot but to me it wasn't hard,
crazy now aged 60 and still have memories of the place, hard to wonder where the 41 yrs has gone since being there,
can even remember the swimming pool there on my first wack, but closed by my 2nd 3rd time there, and also playing football in the old quarry lol, think my last weekly wage was £1.75 enough to buy 3/4 ounce of baccy and papers,
still have my original education orderly photocopy pass, that i smuggled out of my radio , told the screw i lost my pass and got a replacement
remember playing the screws snooker for a packet of biscuits or a mars bar if you lost
regards to anyone who done the borstal training.
Don't commit crime then. 🙄
@@ianwhitehead691 thanks for the sound advice 41 yrs late, like i needed your advice now , i was passing on my experience to others to stay out the system, for what its worth i didn't reoffend after 1983 ok
Waste of life.
Massive great pitch…loved playing there…
I was in Drake, 83 - 84.
Did 12 months out of 18, youth custody.
The Police song, Every Breath You Take, was playing on the van radio as they drove us through the gates.
Wasn't the powdered drink called Rise and Shine ?
I quite liked it.
At 19:37 that bloke probably ended up in prison a lot in his life. You can tell by his attitude and body language.
Glad I was born in 74.Not this day and age.
They is a documentary on hindley prision yp in about 98 I would love u to find that I am on for 3 seconds and my m8 for about 10 seconds it’s definitely out there good luck with ur channel it’s brilliant
Episode aired Jul 8, 1970
I wonder what happened to them all. I hope they made good lives for themselves.
I hope so too.
Probably members of the Labour Party
Britain looked ancient compared to the US in the 1970s.
The spoken English was far better then
innit bruv
im feeling strongly drawn to mecca sir.
…’Mecca’ Archer!
You will see the chaplain tomorrow Archer and there will be no more talk of MECCA!!! In this establishment! Get him issued with the boots!
About turn! Move it Archer!
@@TomFarrell-js8sl Plastic boots ;)
@@davidbowie2046 I'm thinking of turning Sikh.....
I was on that wing called Grenville in 2007 and it hasn't changed 1 bit. It's been demolished now. Still didn't have toilets or sinks even in 2007. When I first arrived the nurse said to me "don't worry it's nit really shank city like they say"
Wish they could do updates on these boys now
Also, just watching a panorama about feltham yoi from just after 2000, most are black and find it hard to string a coherent sentence together.
Love the Man Alive theme...
I did 2 Borstals ...... Hewell Grange and Onley in the early 70's . 🏴
I was sent to hewell grange in 70s done a runner second night
I got transferred to Portland from Alcatraz back in 1959 because I kept escaping. It was alright.
What was it like in Alcatraz?
You must be a good swimmer
Hello Clint, did you make good your escape then with the other two? 😂
The man in the intro is making great points.
When I schoolboy (1970s, East London), I had Saturday job at my uncle's butchers shop. I had a mate who was a good kid and no trouble but couldn't find a job. His dad told him to throw a brick through a shop window and wait for the Police! From that point on the state would look after him, find him a job or trade, all at the tax payers expense! He never did that but some parent hey!
1970. Reflects the 1960s rather than the 1970s.
I feel myself drawn towards mecca
@goc1842 Mecca! Archer!!!😂
For the Bingo or Dancing ?😂
Get some more shoe polish on you feet.
Do your time in a matchbox
Let us have no more talk of Mecca!!
If you walk past the greenhouse you can hear "No! No!... No! Please! No!..............OOOOOOOHHHHH!"
'scum' lmao. 😂😂
That intro tune takes me back.
Summer 96 i was in portland.
Some intelligent lads here too
not intelligent enough though obviously 🙄
So different than the jails here. They actually got to have privacy while they changed out of their street clothes & into prison uniforms. Most of the time you are strip searched & in front of everyone.
I was there when it was filmed march 1970nelson house got bread and water in block even prison had stop that im 74 now good memories
The Borstal and detention centre eras are just another stain on the appalling UK prison system.
That Ray Winstone @ 16.09 left !!
When I was a kid and stepped out of line my dad would threaten me with Birstall, I didn’t know what it meant but he told me it’s a prison for kids.
I didn’t like the sound of it so kept out of trouble. . Then I watched ‘Scum’
And was glad I kept out of trouble !
The same went for my two younger brothers.
Just baffled by how reasonable this seems, the producers seem to be advertising for it rather than showing an accurate depiction. The reality was they were brutal cynical places as well, inmate on inmate violence was more or less accepted, staff on inmate violence equally so, not sure if formal corporal punishment was an official option (it still was in regular schools) but it certainly was unofficially and yet barely a whiff of that in this programme. If Channel 4 had been around then I suspect this doc would be closer to “Scum” in the final edi😂
How the world has changed dramatically eh , the woke brigade of today wouldn't last 5 minutes back then , back when there was only 2 genders for example 😅😅 great videos truly fascinating stuff , i done a few years in prison in Scotland I'm only 40 but dear me they should bring borstal back sort the youths out of today , suppose human rights woukd get shouted alot these days 😅😅😅
That place still looked the same 25 yrs later
Dover. 2 months basic grade (blue knitted tie), 4 months training grade (red) two months senior training grade (green), one month discharge grade (brown) City and Guilds Intermediate Diploma in Carpentry.
You listen to the accents, posh bloke working for the TV company, rough bloke doing time.
Where's your tool? What F-ing tool!
There's a lad in that bed, Carlin...BIG LAD....called Pongo. 'E 'eard you were comin'.....
this fking tool
I had it in me pocket but it fucked off and became the prime minister of Britain
great upload this FANEDIT
“Up your F in Borstal”
quite liked the drama being sent down..like being in a sam Beckett play....travelled england for first time..recall...portsmouth.scrubs strangeways...
wheres ya tool?
Who's the fucking daddy now?
I knew someone who went to a Borstal and he didn't like it, "Im not going back there."
If you were accused of something you did do and denied it you'd get hit by the staff whatever you were accused of you were guilty of
Funny how the ones that went there thought it was clever
great kiwi punk band song from 1980 ,thr tearaways never been to borstal,the borstal model was exported around the western part of Britains Empire ,here in New zealand it was Waikeria ,middle of nowhere north island ,where wayward youth put by the courts stayed .basically stepping stone to the NZ prison system and made these youths who later went to prison hardened criminalswho went on to join a gang and gang life and in and out of prison ,the whole system just produced hard men that hated society and its rules and the system that put them in jail .the begining of all our gangs can be traced back to first kids being removed from home and put in care of the state .then onto borstal as youth then on to the big house adult prison
1970's but I'm getting 1870's vibes!