Borstal Boy

The novel was published in 1958, and covers the period when Behan was in prison in England. He got out of Borstal (juvenile detention) in 1941 at the age of 18. The surprising thing is that he portrays the Borstal as rather pleasant, though maybe that's just because you see the prisons first, and it's a relief to get outside. He was at a Borstal where the boys worked a farm. There was plenty to eat, you got outside, you could read all you liked in the library in the evening, and there were no walls. He makes it sound as if the founder was still running it, and that he was a visionary. The Knopf edition I read has a glossary at the back, which was invaluable. The little hoodlums use cockney and Irish slang, some of it rhyming slang, e.g. bird is a prison sentence, from birdlime for time.[return][return]His treatment is disconcerting. He wasn't questioned harshly. The British Empire had its boot firmly on the necks of the "lesser races" at the time, yet a 16 year old who acknowledged his membership in the IRA, and had a pack of explosives and plans to bomb the shipyards during the war, was sentenced to 3 years at an open prison with other boys. In these days of mandatory sentences, and trying juveniles as adults, can you imagine that? Mind you, he also describes some beatings by guards at the prison, though considers them not too serious. He also believes that two IRA men who were arrested for a bombing, convicted and executed were innocent of that crime.