My uncle did two years 1935-37 at Aldershot. Discharged from the army on release. Re-enlisted 1939 on the outbreak of war. Got a sergeant's stripes. Went through Dunkirk, El Alamein, Salerno, Monte Cassino. Hit a 19 year old sub-lieutenant with a rifle butt. Lost his stripes, gaoled shortly. Won the MM at Monte Cassino. Got his stripes back. Lived to be nearly 100.
i did 6 months at MCTC in 1988 ... this video is ott .. granted its harder than battalion but i found it a breath of fresh air .. i became a trustee ( blue tag ) and was allowed out to colchester city center every wenesday ( in no2 dress ) .... sgt major rice was my saviour in there and im so grateful for what he made me !
digitalradiohacker: I concur with you on the uniform bit...as an ex Spr from the 80's no uniform to be worn out of camp due to security threat. brianthesnail1234; wtf are you talking about!
Yep, we were in Aldershot 88-90 and no uniform allowed out the gates unless you went to the bank during lunch hour, but you had to keep it as low profile as poss.
@George holbrook that's fecking brilliant ...ex RE myself 2002 -2008 n god it was encouraged to be an alcoholic...even drank at a small naval base in Basra...2 can rule but ya mate was serving the beers meaning 8 cans ...swamping bed cots daily :)
My training Sgt did a year in Colly after going AWOL to be a mercenary in the Congo. He ended up as RSM of his regiment, the Glorious Glosters and eventually was commissioned to Captain. Still alive and kicking and the man who made me.
"The average perception of Colchester [...] makes him not wish to come here". Not sure if he's talking about the glasshouse or the actual town itself. Both of which are equally dire.
I got 28 days in MCE ( Australian version of this ) for selling my boots in a brothel so I could get a BJ. Wasnt much fun but all things considered it was a damm fine BJ . Ahh to be young again :)
Haha I got 45 days in NASNI San Diego for fighting and being a dumbass, drunk, being naked in public, insubordination, trespassing, suspect of LSD use, crashing a car, illegal fishing, loud music, more fighting, broken windows, bloody knuckles, gambling, I pulled twenty days, guilty as fuck, I slipped a letter to the CO of my squadron, I'm sorry, so sorry, I won't do anything crazy again...a day later, sprung. Of course I did dumb shit later but for a year, I was clean as a whistle.
When I was in the Officers' Training Corps at uni one of the permanent staff instructors - who, it seemed, had been in Colchester at some point - said the following. "They've realized it doesn't make a lot of sense to take a guy who's a bit of a handful and a bit hard and put him in Colchester, so that six months later he can do 500 push ups and run a marathon in three hours wearing his respirator".
Having experienced a similar situation in the U.S. Army when I was 19 years old, I have a lot of sympathy for some (NOT ALL) of the servicemen and women here. I'm in my late 30's now beginning graduate studies on mental heath and behavior. Under times of great stress as in war or even daily military life, otherwise sound minded individuals can succumb to a major psychological issue. There are many cases of manic bi-polar depression, sychzo effective disorders, anxiety and depressive disorders that preceded a drastic change in daily life. Most of the general population has a understanding of traumatic anxiety disorders due to the attention PTSD has had in the last decade. What also needs to be understood is that anxiety induced depressive and schizotic disorders can manifest immediately after or during a traumatic event. That being said, it is well known and documented that anti-social behaviors do not need a traumatic antecedent to manifest, such as stealing or assault. Those behaviors can be eliminated by pairing unpleasant consequences immediately to the offender. Other behaviors that are displayed in someone having a mental health episode are not going to be changed in this manner.
It was fun. Did 6 month stint in 88. Must say it improved my fitness. The bullshit seemed harsh to begin with but def got easier as time passed. Being a 'blue job' I got to learn a lot about army life, different weapon skills that I wouldn't have been normally privy to.
I did seven months in Colly D Wing in 88 so our time there would have certainly overlapped. I was looking forward to my court marshal and the inevitable jail time that would ensue. I knew the end was in sight and I'd be done with the army and able to get on with my life. I was a drug addled mess and knew I was going to get cleaned up, so looked at the whole experience not with trepidation or fear but as therapy and the doors to a new life. I didn't find the regime particularly hard. Looking back on my military life thirty odd years on, I think it one of the better and more enjoyable experiences. Everyone called me Speedy in Colly, because I'd been stealing needles out of the med centre to inject myself with amphetamines.
I remember taking a prisoner down to Collie with a Cpl friend. He took in the paperwork and live persons chit into the back of the guardroom whilst I carried the bags in as the prisoner came in. The guard told me to stand on the Green Spot and double time. I did what he said as he barked orders to which I obeyed. It was only when my mate came back, he told the guard that I was the Escort. When the guard told me to relax, I felt so relieved. The prisoner watching was gobsmacked until he was told to stand on that green spot. I laugh now, but I was knackered at the time.
Not RAF - that was AAC - Army Air Corps with blue beret. RAF beret is a dark grey and the RAF had their own disciplinary school - not that they really needed it.
Haha get a week's guard duty for a mistake during drill. Our first weekend leave 6 weeks in.. All in our suits with a massive suitcase on parade and then get told if you don't pass the bft now you can't go. That was after 2 hours hard beasting on the drill square. About turn. Mark time. About turn mark time. The standards set by the guards either break you or make you. Blue red blue 💂♀️
I did 3 months in here in the old nissan huts with coal fire in middle of the room. BEST 3 months of my five years in the army. I was treat like a soldier not a bloody street cleaner as I was in my regiment. Came out of there a better soldier and knowing more than my senior NCO`s.
Gaming Git I think they key thing you said was "there is only so much you can do to them as in punishment", I wonder if you took that away and did close to anything like couple hundrdd years ago would it make prison a place people fear to go instead of a place people openly seek to go for a good time?
And should that apply to people wrongly convicted? If you or anyone you know were sentenced to a term of imprisonment as a result of being convicted of false witness evidence would you wish that time to be spent in such conditions.
I’m a bloke and I did 4 years in civvie prison (black and white HMP) and I tell you this, we had a FAR tougher time in civilian jail than the women featured in this documentary in the glass house. It’s unbelievable how much softer the women got the punishment compared to the men.
Was there in '91 D wing. Remember Some of the staff on here, Shergar, staff Taylor, corkie, dust buster,Steve Davis,screaming skull, virgil, and staff Barnes. Ex RN, only did three days at DQ'S in Pompey, then about seven of us transferred to MCTC as DQ'S was closing and didn't take anyone with more than 28 days. I was sentenced to seven months, but served just over four, even managed to get ten days recon, and made it to special stage. First member of the RN to do so! Can honestly say that I quite enjoyed a lot of Colly, sorted me out, learnt a lot about the Army(different Regiment's), and the RAF. Made some good mates in there and had some great laughs.
john marshall DQs are now the RM School of Music. The cells have been soundproofed and each student has one as his or her practice room. Other accommodation has been built on part of the Square, and the remaining oblong is used for marching practice. Find the RM Squeegy Band video, you might enjoy it!
A done 6 months in there a was para, and the only para in there at the time is a great place, av been in barlinie and ad chose that place civie jail anyday
I thought you only got sent there if you were sentence to more then 28 days but less then 2 years and if you had less then 28 days you'd be held in the guardroom or brig and if you had more then 2 years then you'd be sent to a civilian prison.
@@konstantinosnikolakakis8125 Yeah that's what I understood it to be, that being said I think RAF and Navy may have had different rules on base detention vs Glasshouse.
What's so funny about being asking if you are either gay or lesbian? Did you know that this is now illegal after the laws on homosexuality in the army where lifted in 2000?
When I was there in '56 one of our lads was asked that and replied "Yes I do, and actually I fancy you, sir. Can I be your humble servant, please?" Much screaming and apoplectic fits and doubling round the square was the result. Can;t remember if he was charged, but probably was done for insubordination.....
I did 9 months 'soldier on' in 1987, it was a great experience, being from a Guards regiment, the bullshit was easy and I was fit as a butchers dog, the staff were good as gold as long as you showed willing, I was in stage 3 after less than two months, it was a lot less of a fuck about than being in the battalion. When I got back to the battalion I got re promoted a few months later.
I did 112 days in the MCTC in 1970 when it was all nissan huts and barbed wire. We had to use outside ablutions in the morning breaking the ice in the sinks. I lost two stones but came out a better soldier. You was treated fairly and and as long as you jumped when told to jump it was ok.
+Bernard Swaine I did 21 days in January 1965, in A company, we had continuous PT and drill. We once saw a film, no radio, nothing else, but the food was good. No visits, no phone calls, but letters were allowed. After lock up at 20:00 the only drink was the "clean" water you could scoop out of the toilet water cistern. We feared the punishment cells. Cold, no mattress, bread and water for 3 days, then the cunning sods gave out a proper warm meal. Not many went past 4 days, they co-operated. My fellow prisoner was sent there because he couldn't march properly, the doctor said his feet were not damaged, so the feet must have been OK, and he was being uncooperative. No other possibility. We were about 10 men to each Nissan hut, & altogether around 30 men in A company. Every shift change we had to be counted and signed over as alive bodies. One of the guards could never count up the 3 groups of men and make the required number. Of course we were all standing still, what a thickie!
+Alan Weedon I forgot to mention, most of A company were in for desertion, not returning after a while away. But 2 of us were there for being out of bounds in female billets, invited there of course, and no orgies in those days.
CCF Platoons in the US Army, and that's now fallen out of favor. Luckily, I never got hemmed up that badly to need to go to one, but I know people who did. The shirkers and bricks usually went there. Watching their daily PT sessions (usually runs or marches with fully loaded duffle bags) at Fort Campbell is a memory that has still never left me.
You have the right to refuse to soldier, but that takes immense courage and attitude. You are in fact harder and stronger than any SAS soldier that ever lived if you do so. You completely block out anything that is shouted at you and stare ahead about a thousand yards and say nothing. They try every trick in the book to get you back into the fold. But I am in absolute admiration for the ones who they can not break!
@White Baron I know for a fact that the Kray twins became two of the only few that broke the military system. They were transferred to the tower of London because they were a bad influence on others who refused to soldier! As you and I have stated, anyone who can go thro this kind of head-fucking process, without responding as a serving or subordinate soldier deserves to be the next James Bond! Maybe this should be an MI6 selection programme, food for thought?
In my opinion, if you join the armed forces and refuse to soldier, you're an absolute tosser and a liability on operations and I wouldn't want you anywhere near me. As for being harder and stronger than any SAS soldier, I have to assume you did selection and passed?
I did 2 months at the old MCTC in 1980. Nissan huts. An old coal burner for heat. 10 man rooms. I was from a front line RAF squadron in Germany at the height of the Cold War…who do I end up with in the next bed to me….only the smartest serviceman I’ve ever met. Corporal of the Horse, Blues and Royals, the Queen’s household cavalry. Colchester was a great leveller, I put my back into it, went up to Stage Three, got out a week early, went back to my squadron in Germany and never looked back. It was a shock to my system but it wasn’t prison….it was a military corrective training facility.
These prison conditions should be applied to civilian prisoners. As mentioned by the narrator at 7:00, does the inmate population today consist of clerks/cooks as opposed to front-line troops?
As T Vicker says; there is a broad variety of cap badges that arrive there. The rank range for a DUS (detainee under sentence) is up to and including WO1. Commissioned officers cannot receive a sentence of military detention but can receive a prison sentence. Commissioned officers have on occasion, been held at MCTC but only in custody awaiting court martial or transfer to prison.
As an ex Guardsman . i heard that the Guardsmen got more stick on the square and with the kit.. But i knew a bloke who was in Colchester in early 80's who said the Guardsmen in there got some perks cleaning the staff boots etc especially if they were Discharges and not RTU's. When i was in.. you could do 28 days in your own Battalion Nick.. anything over that . you went to Colly..Then it changed to Colly for 28 days..
My dad was a PO in the RN 1935-1950. He told me once they were in Portsmouth or Plymouth and they were tasked with escorting a couple of prisoners up to the military prison. They were unfortunately a few minutes late, the senior NCO at the gate refused entry as the stipulated time was a few minutes earlier !
One thing I have always wanted to know about national service is (I assume you did national service) but what if for example you had your letter saying you had to go to the train station to go to the place to do your national service and you said to yourself "fuck it I'm not going" and you left town for a couple of days to avoid your national service. Would people come looking for you from the military ? Thanks.
Oh wow, I remember watching this when it first aired. My Dad was in the Army and I love all subjects to do with it, so naturally watched this with him. ALL prisons should be like this. Repeat offenders may be less common!
Despite the military completely reforming the Glass House, making it a more Scandinavian style prison which has seen far fewer repeat offenders? You sure about that?
Lol, i mean these soldiers are doing the time because they want to remain as soldiers or they'll be kicked out, so they care about their performance. Most prisoners are drug addicted chavs who can barely read or write and put most of their effort into destroying their own cell and living in absolute squalor. I know this because my brother is doing construction work in a prison, and for every job he finishes in a cell, the prisoner just rips out whatever he installs for the sheer destructive pleasure of it.
Its completely different. Everyone who get send their has chosen to join the military, which indicates at least some openess to concept of structure/discpline. It be harder to implement a silimar regime among the general popualtion. There all doing relatively short sentences, you could not subject someone to this regime for 9 years- it would just drive them mad. Finally, they all got something to come out to- the resumption of their military career. A lot in general prison have nothing to work towards/ look forward to, so they will be harder to manage. I workout 5 days a week myself but think we can overemphasis the redemptive power of hard exercise. Charles Bronson done plenty of pushups, has not done him any good.
Military law is completely outdated and most soldiers do not know that they are able to be represented by a civilian lawyer and barrister. Court marshals are represented by senior officers who effectively serve the higher ranked officers and would not stand a chance against a civilian legal representation.
@White Baron In both my cour tsmartial I was represented by young gawky 2nd Lts who were clearly terrified of the senior officers on the judging panel. On both occasions I appealed against sentence, saying I was badly represented. Result....appeal refused. Surprise, eh?
I was released just before filming began. A few good lads and lassies here. Ewan Black was my provost sergeant at training depot before joining MCTC. A great guy.
Our basics were worse than this. And the further training that we went through. We use to wash down the buildings we lived in for inspection. The only place we never cleaned was the roof. We could not get on top of a three story building that easily. We learned to clean things like never before. At times we lived in a sea of mud. I have never forgotten the training. Saved my hide a few times in sticky situations. The number one rule was not to get caught. And that was not easy.
I got 56 days for fighting and although it was a very hard 2 months when I came out I could run my mile and a half in 7.30mins. Also the food was banging.
I did 2 years Regular Army that was enough military confinement for me .Just protect and serve others every single day on this Earth and I'll be your brother forever .
Didn't the Army and the Marines have something like this at one time called "Correctional Custody"? Not quite the Brig or Levanworth but for those considered still salvageable. One usually made little rocks out of big rocks in addition to other manual labor on top of being heavily smoked daily. If one still didn't follow orders THEN they went to the Brig, given an Entry-Level Separation, Discharge-in-lieu of Court-Martial, Other-Than-Honorable, Bad Conduct or Dishonorable Discharge depending on the charge and Court-Martial proceedings if applicable?
You spend more than a month there and come out as a very fit, very highly disciplined soldier, very few reoffenders, few want a second visit to the glasshouse! A civ prisoner would cry that this is against his human rights...
Second visit? I was twice in Colchester, once in Waynes Keep, Cyprus; once in Corrodina Heights, Malta; once in Bielefeld, Germany; and once in Shepton Mallet, UK.
Forces news says this is not a prison. What's the definition of prison: Prison is an institution for the confinement of persons who have been remanded (held) in custody by a judicial authority or who have been deprived of their liberty following conviction for a crime. Kinda fits the definition...
I got 9 months in there from Nothen Ireland when I got out my Bn was posted to Colchester the dickheads drove me out of one gate around the corner and straight in to another Lol.
I live about 5 minutes drive away from this place and I had never heard of the place until I joined the Merchant Navy.. lol So many sailors that I served with had been to the glass house in Colchester..
Have worked there in the last 6 years Nothing like that now Not even shouted at or marched about now Should have showed it 30 years ago Terrible non heated huts Pt in shorts and singlet in snow Painting entrance stones white And my favourite Collecting leaves in Autumn on access road As they fell from trees
Those things were rampant across military bases, even into the early 2000s! LOL. Was a much-needed relief for comfy duvets once I was at my regular unit.
I'm so lucky I was saved by an officer during work experience as a kid. He could see that I was affected in some way. That turned out to be BPD even though I think he thought it was drugs. I don't suppose it mattered. He saw that I was mentally ill and put a stop to my application that had been ongoing since 14. I just wanted to escape my abusers.... Thank fuck for that. He wasn't exactly nice about it but hey.... He saved me from an even worse life so I don't care... I'd have been slow at firs but then I think I could have shined to be honest. But I wanted it for the wrong reasons for sure....
I have done 2 sentences here 1999/2000 first to soldier on second for discharge. To be fair this place was tough but did me good, it was better than the treatment I got from my RP's back at regiment. If you were army it wasn't as tough as if you was from the Navy or RAF those guys weren't used to this level of discipline.
This was 1993 or 94. The RLC was formed in April 1993, formed up from other regiments. Some of them are wearing RLC berets, so was obviously after the formation of the RLC.
In the US Army of the 70s and 80s, we called this Correctional Custody. It was staffed by Division MPs and no one I ever met wanted to go back. The period of their sentence was counted as Bad Time and added on to the end of their enlistment.
It's not a career block to have done some time in Colchester. It's very common for soldiers to get promoted shortly after they arrive back at their Regiments.
Am I right in thinking that these soldiers, ironically, come out better soldiers than when they first entered? I wonder how many then go on to become great soldiers?
I did a couple of 28 days in the pokey for overstaying my leave in the UK. Double marching everywhere except for coming back after cookhouse meals. When I was confined you were asked if you wanted to work, of course I said yes, out and about. One time they must have looked at my civvy work record and saw that I was a painter and decorator, so I got the job of decorating the Gym, dead easy. Like the whole military thing, if you did your work then you were not bothered at all, I never have been. One lad that was in at the same time asked if he wanted to work, but he said effing no I don't. So he was given a galvanised bucket and a sackful of wire wool. At the end of his stay that bucket looked like stainless steel. Another time we were clearing snow around the camp when the RSM was walking through on his his way to his office. He noticed one lazy sod just, well being lazy. He told the Provo in charge of us to take him to the guardroom and get a wheelbarrow and a teaspoon. The bloke spent the time on his knees shovelling (teaspooning) snow into the wheelbarrow. He was that thick it never worried him at all. I was used to hard work having been a coalman before the military, but this git was as lazy as ever afterwards. First time in the pokey the RSM asked me if I would like to join the Provo. I did think about it but I liked the MT and driving my Stalwart too much. Good happy times, never forgotten.
140 ppm piece of piss we did 160 in our battalion it'd have been nice to go to Colly for a rest lol and we doubled everywhere in battalion nick and even had our own empty tank round casing too. Them were the days. I loved nick. Celer et Audax
Willing to bet most if not all of them have now left the army and gone on to other things in life. It's VERY rare for someone to spend an entire ~40 year working lifetime in the forces. I think Lt.Col Gascoigne is retired and hangs around Highland Gathering type events.
In the UK, generally, you are contracted to 22 years service, after that, you can leave with a large payment and an automatic pension. You can extend pass 22 years but most dont want to. Officers can stay longer.
I remember my dad working down here in the glaass house he worked in there for around 7 years and my dad said he was very strict with the SUS and he said that he wouldn't take any bullshit from any of the squaddies no matter what they say or did and he put loads of the squaddies on show parade every single day and my dad just believed in disiplin the whole time he served down there and that was way back in the 1980's.
This telling of life among the regimented is a powerful encouragement of my life-long avoidance of anything in a uniform. Moreover I’ve been successful in remaining outside the purview of the clones of this variety and hope to continue on this path.
I've never served in the military but I always thought that this type of approach to discipline and reform is character building. Of the few people I've spoken to who have experience or know someone very close to them that have been to Colchester, they all seem to have been better off for it. The military is not for everyone I know but it can be positively life changing for a lot of people.
