The expansion of the borstal system at home and abroad, the success of innovative schemes at Wakefield and elsewhere, the gathering together of exceptional governors, housemasters and officers, the increasing involvement of a sympathetic public, and the legislative imprimatur that would be provided when the Criminal Justice Bill became law, all heralded a golden age for reformers. But the war came, reining in the steady progress which until then had ‘generated unalloyed admiration throughout the world’.

The structure erected during the inter-war years was undermined, not so much by German bombs, but by other effects of the war. Two thirds of trainees were discharged, many of whom, along with many of the staff, joined the armed forces. The loss of the latter was particularly damaging. They were the standard-bearers of the reform movement, and had laboured hard to create a tradition that would endure. All gone! So too were some of the institutions. Five were taken over in full or in part for use by the War Office or for adults decanted from urban prisons. Some suffered. While both Rochester and Feltham were hit by bombs, Portland, because of its location, fared the worst, being repeatedly subjected to bombing and machine-gunning by the Luftwaffe, which damaged buildings and killed or wounded several boys. Their comrades got their revenge when one of the planes crashed and the lads, rummaging through the wreckage, made off with the pilot's ear as a trophy. Overcrowded and under-manned, borstals were unable to provide the same quality of training as heretofore. In addition, war-work took precedence over everything, and borstal boys and girls were not exempted. Life for them would be taken at a brisker tempo. As the war progressed the number of young offenders increased and they seemed more difficult and disturbed, an aberration occasioned by the turmoil, disruption of family life, and privations of wartime, or so it was thought. As training was in retreat, birchings as well as committals to prison were on the increase. It was assumed that with victory things would gradually return to normal, borstal would be resurgent and its success consummated.