Associate
As a youngster with a passion for cars I unfortunately became a professional car thief. I am in no way attempting to condone or justify my crimes and as such, I accept that I deserved to be punished for my crimes.
However, this is about the Detention Centres that existed back in the 80's.
Due to my age when I was convicted I was sent to the only 'senior' Detention Centre in the country, 'Hollesley Bay'. This was the only 'DC' where smoking was allowed due to the slightly older age of the inmates. It was also the only 'Open' DC. Which meant that there were no fences or locks on the cell doors (which weren't called cells, but were referred to as 'rooms').
However, the regime and conduct of the officers in charge was no less brutal and racist than what I have read about the other DC's such as North Sea Camp etc.
Officers would frequently punch inmates for failing to refer to them as 'sir' or by their surnames. Also, a favourite method of punishing inmates who had broken the rules was to turn the rest of the inmates against them. For example, smoking was only allowed in certain areas, such as the television room and only at certain times. Inmates had to sit in silence until one of the officers said that it was ok to 'spark up'. However, sometimes a new inmate would forget and would light a cigarette before being told it was allowed by an officer. When this happened instead of the individual that had lit his cigarette being punished by not being allowed to smoke for the remainder of the day, the officer would announce that no inmates would be allowed to smoke for the remainder of the day and that it was the fault of the inmate that lit his cigarette before being told that it was allowed. Obviously this would have the effect of turning all of the inmates against the one individual that had broken the rules.
This method of punishing everyone else was employed on a regular basis and as a result it was common for one person to be set upon and badly beaten by large groups of inmates in revenge for them being punished for the individuals infraction.
Racism was also extremely rife. Probably the worst example I saw was when a young Sikh boy came onto the unit. He was asked by the Senior Officer what religion he was, either Church of England or Roman Catholic. He replied that he was neither, and he was a Sikh.
He was promptly told that there was no such thing as a Sikh and that there were only two religions, Church of England or Roman Catholic. The Senior Officer then proceeded to have the young lads hair cut in the standard 'crop' as it was longer than the allowed regulation length.
Needless to say that the young lad was in tears due to his religious beliefs being totally ignored.
I could go on and on about the horrendous things I witnessed during my time in Detention Centre but I just wanted to highlight a couple of things that I saw whilst there.
Obviously this would never happen these days. But it shouldn't have been allowed to happen back then either
However, this is about the Detention Centres that existed back in the 80's.
Due to my age when I was convicted I was sent to the only 'senior' Detention Centre in the country, 'Hollesley Bay'. This was the only 'DC' where smoking was allowed due to the slightly older age of the inmates. It was also the only 'Open' DC. Which meant that there were no fences or locks on the cell doors (which weren't called cells, but were referred to as 'rooms').
However, the regime and conduct of the officers in charge was no less brutal and racist than what I have read about the other DC's such as North Sea Camp etc.
Officers would frequently punch inmates for failing to refer to them as 'sir' or by their surnames. Also, a favourite method of punishing inmates who had broken the rules was to turn the rest of the inmates against them. For example, smoking was only allowed in certain areas, such as the television room and only at certain times. Inmates had to sit in silence until one of the officers said that it was ok to 'spark up'. However, sometimes a new inmate would forget and would light a cigarette before being told it was allowed by an officer. When this happened instead of the individual that had lit his cigarette being punished by not being allowed to smoke for the remainder of the day, the officer would announce that no inmates would be allowed to smoke for the remainder of the day and that it was the fault of the inmate that lit his cigarette before being told that it was allowed. Obviously this would have the effect of turning all of the inmates against the one individual that had broken the rules.
This method of punishing everyone else was employed on a regular basis and as a result it was common for one person to be set upon and badly beaten by large groups of inmates in revenge for them being punished for the individuals infraction.
Racism was also extremely rife. Probably the worst example I saw was when a young Sikh boy came onto the unit. He was asked by the Senior Officer what religion he was, either Church of England or Roman Catholic. He replied that he was neither, and he was a Sikh.
He was promptly told that there was no such thing as a Sikh and that there were only two religions, Church of England or Roman Catholic. The Senior Officer then proceeded to have the young lads hair cut in the standard 'crop' as it was longer than the allowed regulation length.
Needless to say that the young lad was in tears due to his religious beliefs being totally ignored.
I could go on and on about the horrendous things I witnessed during my time in Detention Centre but I just wanted to highlight a couple of things that I saw whilst there.
Obviously this would never happen these days. But it shouldn't have been allowed to happen back then either
