Mu~ic educatiotz iu sociekyMUSIC IN
PRISONS AND REFORMATORIES
IN ENGLAND AND WALES
by
Charles CAPE, of Her Majesty's Prison Service, U.K.As a member of Her Majesty's Prison Service, England and Wales, my
expos6 will be limited to our knowledge and experience of music in
our English prisons and Borstal institutions. I therefore apologize in
advance to our friends in all other countries, where no doubt music
in their penal establishments is a common feature of the treatment and
training of the inmates. I say this because I know from recent infor-
mation that music does play a part in the attempt to rehabilitate pri-
soners in countries belonging to Unesco.
The first experiments known to me in the use of music in Borstal
institutions in England and Wales were made only 30 years ago. They
began with the formation of a music appreciation society. Use was made
of gramophone records and, in addition, there were occasional visits by
eminent artistes, one of whom in those days was Sir Steuart Wilson.
The members of this music society attended voluntarily, but a condi-
tion of remaining in the society was that members had to conduct
themselves in the institution in an orderly manner. Members of the
staff of this Borstal were agreed that the influence of the society, not
only in promoting an interest in and knowledge of music but in
developing the aesthetic feelings of the lads and in the training of
their characters, was quite invaluable.
Appreciation of music, either in societies or classes, is now a com-
mon feature of the educational scheme of the Borstals of England and
Wales. In addition to listening to music there is a good deal of making
of music, first of all in choral work. The choral classes are enthusiastic
and, beginning by singing in unison, lead on to two-part works, and,
if members of the staff and their wives or friends are willing to assist,
it is then possible to have choral works sung in soprano, alto, tenor
and bass.
At one Borstal institution the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, by the
special permission of Mr. Rupert d'Oyley Carte, were annually per-
formed for nine successive years. The lads of the institution made up