Short Sharp Shock

In 1979 the new Tory government led by by Margaret Thatcher and Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw, abolished borstals for young offenders and introduced a new system of ‘youth detention centres’ employing harsh, quasi-military discipline. They proudly claimed in their party manifesto that they were going to “experiment with a tougher regime as a short, sharp shock for young criminals”.

Using a series of fascinating images taken inside two such institutions in the mid 1980s, Glenochil and Kirklevington Grange, by radical photographer Carlos Guarita and the memories of an inmate Colin Adamson, this photo-essay presentation tells the story, first hand, of what it was like to be incarcerated in a ‘youth detention centre’ and to be subject to ‘short, sharp, shock’.