Afro American Studies

During the 1870s and 80s, the Jamaican colonial government encouraged the institutionalization of juvenile delinquents in industrial schools as an alternative to their incarceration in prisons. Much of this effort was driven by concerns about the inability to control the potential labor of children, maintaining the social order, and the “perceived” instability of the black family. Through the Reformatories and Industrial Schools Law (1881), the Poor Relief Law (1886), and later the Young Criminals Punishment Law (1904), the colonial state funded the development of industrial schools and channeled boys and girls into these institutions through the courts and poor relief infrastructure. These laws linked industrial schools to the existing coercive social, legislative, and economic infrastructure that sought to control the labor of black Jamaicans. Gender as well as the type of crime committed determined where children were institutionalized in industrial schools. This paper contributes to the existing historiography on children in the Caribbean as well as reformatories and industrial schools in the colonial world by examining the legislation that shaped the development of industrial schools and the ways in which these institutions were integrated into existing coercive structures in Jamaica between 1881 and 1904.

In 1869, the government established the Government Reformatory and Industrial School in Stony Hill to house both boys and girls convicted of crimes or declared destitute and orphaned. In its early years, the institution was plagued by rumours of amputations, disease and disfigurement among the inmates. In 1875 and 1877, Governors’ Grey and Musgrave respectively convened a commission of Inquiry into the conditions of the inmates of the Government Reformatory. Commissioners in the 1877 inquiry found evidence of ‘cruel and capricious punishment’ in which boys were shackled together in pairs for months at a time.
Relying on correspondence as well as witness testimony before the commissioners, this paper examines conflicts among staff members about the treatment of children as well as tensions between inmates and the school’s administration to explore the culture of work and punishment at the Government Reformatory. A rarely engaged topic in Caribbean historiography, this paper explores the relationship between punishment, childhood and reformatories in colonial Jamaica. I conclude that the culture of punishment in the reformatory reflected earlier practices of violence and punishment inherited from slavery. The conflict over the treatment of children not only provides insight into how the Government Reformatory operated but also the relationship between labour and debility in children’s work schedule and the ways in which children attempted to exercise agency in their daily lives.

Under the Poor Law, parochial boards assumed guardianship of children categorized as abandoned, abused or orphaned. They received admittance to industrial schools and orphanages as a form of relief. Throughout the 1880s and 90s, the colonial government and religious organizations opened industrial schools as well as orphanages to target destitute and delinquent children in Jamaica. As guardians, both the colonial state and parochial boards saw industrial schools, and later orphanages, as central to harnessing children's labour. In the twentieth century, continued concerns about labour and economic development continued to shape the treatment of children in state care. Using Maxfield Park Children's Home as a case study, it is argued that economic concerns as well as the rhetoric of age and being able-bodied coloured administrators' perception of destitute children and ultimately shaped how children in state care were treated.

At the centre of the Jamaican Poor Relief Administration were
Inspectors of Poor [sic], appointed to monitor and administer relief
to applicants throughout the island. Acting on behalf of the Board of
Supervision and the Parish Councils, these civil servants protected the
financial interests of the government while also representing the needs
of applicants for relief. Many Inspectors of Poor, through their daily
interactions, developed criteria of poverty through which they were able
to identify those whom they thought took advantage of the loopholes
in the system. In May 1932, Acting Inspector of Poor, Mr. D. Phillips
alerted the Town Clerk of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation
of his encounter with two women who attempted to defraud the Poor
Relief Office. Using poor relief records of the Kingston and St. Andrew
Corporation, I explore conflicts between poor relief officers and
paupers, more specifically women, to assess the ways in which women
engaged and navigated the bureaucracy of the poor relief system. I
contend that women on poor relief operated in communities through
which they shared their aid and navigated the complex bureaucracy of
the Jamaican poor relief system. In addition, I argue that poor relief
records are a rich archival source from which we can engage emerging
areas of research such as poverty, family, and childhood.

Between October and November of 1869, the Jamaican government moved 168 boys and 71 girls to the newly established Government Reformatory, housed in the old military barracks in Stony Hill. Almost immediately, rumours circulated of general mismanagement and the disfigurement of inmates within the institution. Contemporary reports suggest that the old military barracks had served as a goat pen during its abandonment and the government had failed to rehabilitate and clean the infrastructure prior to the arrival of the children. The floors of the North Barracks, which housed male inmates, were covered in goat faeces and the walls were covered in lice and chigoes. Two inquiries set up by Governors Sir William Grey and Sir Anthony Musgrave, respectively, between 1875 and 1877 investigated the conditions under which the children lived. The commissioners found evidence of "cruel and capricious punishment" by staff members and concluded that the institution lacked the infrastructu...

Abstract:During the 1870s and 80s, the Jamaican colonial government encouraged the institutionalization of juvenile delinquents in industrial schools as an alternative to their incarceration in prisons. Much of this effort was driven by concerns about the inability to control the potential labor of children, maintaining the social order, and the “perceived” instability of the black family. Through the Reformatories and Industrial Schools Law (1881), the Poor Relief Law (1886), and later the Young Criminals Punishment Law (1904), the colonial state funded the development of industrial schools and channeled boys and girls into these institutions through the courts and poor relief infrastructure. These laws linked industrial schools to the existing coercive social, legislative, and economic infrastructure that sought to control the labor of black Jamaicans. Gender as well as the type of crime committed determined where children were institutionalized in industrial schools. This paper contributes to the existing historiography on children in the Caribbean as well as reformatories and industrial schools in the colonial world by examining the legislation that shaped the development of industrial schools and the ways in which these institutions were integrated into existing coercive structures in Jamaica between 1881 and 1904.

Under the Poor Law, parochial boards assumed guardianship of children categorized as abandoned, abused or orphaned. They received admittance to industrial schools and orphanages as a form of relief. Throughout the 1880s and 90s, the colonial government and religious organizations opened industrial schools as well as orphanages to target destitute and delinquent children in Jamaica. As guardians, both the colonial state and parochial boards saw industrial schools, and later orphanages, as central to harnessing children's labour. In the twentieth century, continued concerns about labour and economic development continued to shape the treatment of children in state care. Using Maxfield Park Children's Home as a case study, it is argued that economic concerns as well as the rhetoric of age and being able-bodied coloured administrators' perception of destitute children and ultimately shaped how children in state care were treated.