James Quinn and his classmates called it the blackjack — five layers
and 18 in. (46 cm) of leather, studded with coins and other metal
objects. The priests at the school Quinn attended in rural Ireland in
the 1950s each carried a blackjack and used it, along with bamboo rods
and other objects, to dole out almost daily beatings to hundreds of
children. "Whatever class you went to, you got a beating from whoever
was in charge," says Quinn, now 70. "But knowing what other people went
through, I know I was one of the lucky ones."
Quinn was one of more than 2,000 people to give evidence in a nine-year inquiry into child abuse at educational institutions, orphanages and hospitals run by Roman Catholic religious orders in Ireland from the 1930s to the 1990s. On Wednesday, May 20, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released its findings. The five-volume, 2,600-page report is a catalog of horrors, describing "endemic sexual abuse" at boys' institutions and the "daily terror" of physical abuse experienced by the estimated 30,000 Irish children who were sent to them.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900120,00.html
Quinn was one of more than 2,000 people to give evidence in a nine-year inquiry into child abuse at educational institutions, orphanages and hospitals run by Roman Catholic religious orders in Ireland from the 1930s to the 1990s. On Wednesday, May 20, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released its findings. The five-volume, 2,600-page report is a catalog of horrors, describing "endemic sexual abuse" at boys' institutions and the "daily terror" of physical abuse experienced by the estimated 30,000 Irish children who were sent to them.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900120,00.html