NCJ Number
166004
Date Published
1996
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the Borstal concept as it has been applied to young male offenders in a youth correctional facility in British Columbia and proposes a similar program for both juvenile and maximum-security adult institutions.
Abstract
The author, who was a dorm supervisor at the New Haven Borstal facility in British Columbia, notes that the purpose of a Borstal Institution is to teach offenders to be self-contained individuals and train them for freedom. Inmates are assigned to a team. The dormitory is divided into four teams of 10. Each has a team captain and an assistant captain, both of whom are at senior or senior/temporary absence level. The team captains report to the senior duty monitor, who reports to dorm supervisors. Inmates progress upward in rank within the team based on their success in completing the programs tailored to their particular needs, which are identified through diagnostic processing. In both Britain and Canada, the Borstal program was predicated on the "definite indeterminate" sentence. The judge could specify a minimum sentence; the headmaster and staff of New Haven could then keep the offender until he had finished the 12th grade, learned a vocation, acquired sufficient life skills, and developed a post-release plan. The time in the program could be extended to a maximum of 2 years less a day. Currently New Haven is one of the few remaining Borstal programs, and it is but a shadow of the original paradigm. The recidivism rate for New Haven during the author's time there as a dorm supervisor was 20 percent. He concludes that the Borstal is the most effective method of dealing with young offenders that has been found to date. He examines some of the reasons why the concept is failing in Canada, and he suggests how the program can be reformed along the lines of its original intention and success and applied to maximum-security adult institutions as well as juvenile institutions.