Westbrook a stain on child welfare

DISQUIETING RUMOURS

The 1971Westbrook Annual Report stated Stipendiary Magistrate P. D. Peel was appointed to conduct an inquiry into mass escapes, violence, excessive drill, homosexuality and the standard of food.

The inquiry surprisingly revealed 'no serious deficiencies', although a recommendation was made regarding 'prevention of homosexual practices'.

Reporter Brian Bolton of Sunday Truth challenged Mr Peel's claim that 'every avenue to obtain evidence … has been explored'as he had received a phone call from a final-year social work student in contact with former Westbrook boys prepared to give evidence of serious misbehaviour, but Mr Peel did not contact him.

On drill "Some of the Training Officers did require exercises to be performed in such continuous repetition that they would cause fatigue and muscle soreness" and an exercise described as "walking backwards up the wall"was not demonstrated as Mr Peel thought it would be "almost impossible to perform"!

The regulation on drills stated "The person in charge may punish … misconduct by …physical exercises, with proper rests under supervision, for a period not exceeding 30 minutes on any one day", although Peel found drilling hours were usually 8am to 3.30pm with a break for lunch, and he discounted evidence that boys sometimes drilled for 12 hours.

Peel saw physical conflict as inevitable but blamed the boys: "No doubt when a lad of the nature of some of these inmates plays up even to the extent of shaping up to an officer …it is a problem to decide how to handle him without using some violence and without giving the impression of 'backing down'which could be most undesirable".

Mr Peel's remark "seeing boys ask for more than one helping of food indicates that there is nothing wrong with the quality"seems naïve: as one boy commented "You get so hungry you'd eat anything".

Neither the 1961 open enquiry nor the 1971 c1osed inquiry brought change in official attitudes.

However, a new dimension of understanding gradually developed with more understanding of human behavior from academic disciplines. One outcome was that Westbrook boys were helped to find their own voice.

1972: RECORDED INTERVIEWS.

Boy A: 'It's not very good in there, particularly for the dark boys, the way they get treated …quite often they get beat up for no apparent reason. One day an absconder was brought in and Mr Z hit his head against a steel gate … And when [boy B] ran away and was brought back Mr Z stuck into him too'.