H. M.
Prison
Barlinnie
Glasgow,
E3
17th
April, 1963
Governor
Sir,
Report
of French Classes held at this Prison
It would be as well I think to review the French Class from its
very conception, in order to have a complete record of all factors concerned.
On 9.10.62, a letter was received from a
Mr. Oliver Brown, O.A, M F.I.L, of Achenairn, Glasgow, Road, Milngavie, I which
he made reference to an educational experiment carried out in Fresnes Prison in
France.
Mr. Brown went on the state that he thought
such an experiment could well be considered in a Scottish Prison, and that if
we were interested he would be pleased to help.
On Wednesday, 24th October,
1962, a meeting was arranged and present on that occasion were, yourself, the
Chaplain, myself and Mr. Brown.
From the discussion that followed it was
agreed that I should attend to obtain ‘volunteers for a class in Conversation
French, and that dependent upon the numbers interested, I should decide whether
to go ahead of not.
For various reasons I decided that the
Younger Recidivists should be the group from what I would attempt to form the
class, and I duly posted notices inviting the interested amongst them to
contact me.
2. This process, to a great extent, of
self-education, for without the co-operation of the ‘students’ and a certain
amount of ‘homework’, the class would
have failed.
3. This voluntary’ class and for many
participants this was the first constructive effort ay of them had made to
‘make their sentence serve them;.
4. The interest emanating from the class
had a noticeable effects upon the participants in “ A’ Hall itself. Only one of
those attending the class got into any trouble in the Hall during the whole
course.
It should be stated here that the class was
composed of all Y. R. elements from the ‘docile’ to the ‘hard case’.
5. The courses may have the effect of
encouraging certain of the ‘students’ to continue these studies when liberated.
6. On completion of all the students had an
impressive if superficial knowledge of the French Language.
With reference to Mr. Oliver Brown
The response was surprisingly good,
somewhere in the region of 18 prisoners, expressing a wish to take part. I had
previously decided that 10 prisoners would be the minimum number required to
form a class, so after examining liberation dates I decided that we would have
sufficient numbers all through the course to make it a worthwhile venture.
Mr. Brown was contacted on 14.12.62 the first
class commenced. Present on that occasion were 17 Young Recidivists al of
course from ‘A” Hall.
After the commencing date a few other
prisoners asked to join the class and the were absorbed as we went along.
The last class was held on Friday, 12th
instant, and a look at the attendance register showed me that our average
attendance throughout the course was 13.
This figure I found extremely satisfactory,
and a splendid tribute not only to Mr. Brown but to ‘student’s also.
During each Friday evening that the class
met, they were supervised by Officer a. MacPherson of the Borstal Section, and
in his final report to me ha stated that he could scarcely credit the fact that
week after week the behavior of prisoners from ‘A’ Hall was near perfect.
There were no ‘incidents’ during any class
and I am quite convinced the presence of an Officer was almost superfluous.
It would be as well now to consider the
value of such a course and to state future intentions.
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