Suicides of Boy Prisoners; The Portland Borstal Institution; The Delinquent Child After the War

Abstract

This article considers three extracts from the first Howard Journal, published in 1921. Concentrating on juvenile and young male delinquency and the borstal system, it contextualises the original extracts by focusing on the evolution of borstal training in the early 20th Century, the character of the interwar borstal and the influence of the Prison Commissioner, Alexander Paterson, the circumstances and notoriety of Portland Borstal and in particular the issue of suicide in the prison estate, and the impact of the First World War, on the youth and young male delinquency and penality.