by Simon Heng
A famous experiment into prison psychology uncovered an unpalatable truth: staff at all institutions inevitably oppress
In 1971, Philip Zombardo, conducted what came to be known as the Stanford Prison Experiment: he turned the basement of Stanford University psychology department into a mock prison, and divided volunteers into guards and prisoners. The guards were told to run the prison in any way they saw fit, short of using physical violence. The experiment had to be closed down after six days, because the treatment of the prisoners had become so abusive. Most of the prisoners, after a short period of rebellion, had quietly accepted their treatment.
Zombardo concluded that the situation caused the participants to behave so badly, rather than anything inherent in their personalities. Could it be that, in any institution, where one group of people has effective control over others, there could be mistreatment?
In this country, most of the institutions have disappeared - although there are still more than 1,000 people with learning disabilites in long-stay hospitals. Even within this reduced population, in the past two years, high levels of abuse have been discovered in Cornwall, Blackpool and Kent. The investigations in Jersey are poised to uncover what could be horrific levels of systematic child abuse.
Discounting straightforward criminal behaviour, there is much recently that social care workers should feel bad about. Even in "community" hostels, I have felt oppressed by a staff team that slowly turned the focus from client needs to a more comfortable working environment and a worker-centred agenda, which limited our freedom.
Physical restraint
But who am I to point the finger of blame? In the early 1980s, I worked in a high-security children's home. We were trying to change violent children's behaviour with methods that - we thought - were humane, based on well-researched treatments, supervised by clinical psychologists, using the principles of reward rather than punishment.
We still managed to deprive these children of their freedom without the due process of law. Violent outbursts were met with overwhelming physical restraint, and hours of "time-out", which was really just solitary confinement. Everything was well-documented and sanctioned but, in the context of human rights, I have to accept that we abused these children. And we thought we were the good guys.
So remember the words of the saying: "when you point a finger, remember that there are three fingers pointing back at you."
Simon Heng is is a wheelchair user and is involved in user-led organisations
For more on the Stanford prison experiment see Community Care Mad World
Many practices within the care system for looked after children over the years were not legal for example the use of drugs to sedate children in care. Simply drugging a child to make staff members life easier or to give the staff the ultimate control was not legal and 9/10 children did not agree to the drugs nor were they given the option not to be drugged. There was never any written legal consent either. If the child said no to the drugs which they had every right to do so they were ambushed by staff, held down in painful and dangerous methods and injected against their will. Social workers were fully aware of this barbaric treatment and Social workers knew they had the ultimate control leaving parents and children no say.
Untrained staff would willingly take part in the restraining and regular drugging of children in care to the point of the phisical and mental loss of control in the child thus leading to a very destroyed child. The restraining also led to phisical injury, psychological damage and irrepairable long term damage to that child. Social workers stripped children of their basic human rights and called it "care". Social workers and carers failed many in their care yet social workers and carers wish to distance themselves today from the legacy they left behind.
Children regularly left care as a much further damaged young adult and sent on their way into society where Social workers then persecuted the adult/careleavers further for their problems but refused to acknowledge their part in turning that adult/careleaver into what he/she had become.
Social workers attitudes need to change and acknowledge their past failures and that of their predesessors. They need to also stop blaming the child as its not the childs fault they are abused and end up in care and it is not the parents fault for what happens to the child when in care. The parent can be blamed for the original abuse but the abuse in the care system in many cases far outweighs the abuse they suffered at home and children were put in care to protect them and they didnt get that protection.
Staff in childrens homes were cold, abusive, rude, ignorant, uncaring, full of bad attitude and would take out their personal anger on a child when they got into work. They would also also treat the children that way because they had the control to do so and they knew no one would listen to the child above them.
Why is it legal to abuse a child in care with methods that are seen as illegal if it were done to a child out of the care system?