Glasshouse (British Army)

[citation needed] Over time, the word glasshouse came to be applied to all military prisons.

[2] This building was destroyed by fire in a riot of 1946 when the prisoners (labeled as 'mutineers' in the press) were protesting about their rations and conditions given that the Second World War was over.

[3] Glasshouses gained a reputation for brutality,[4] as depicted in Allan Campbell McLean's novel The Glass House and the Sidney Lumet film The Hill.

[6] The MCTC at Colchester was featured in a Channel 4 documentary in 1994 (The Glasshouse) which prompted an early day motion in the House of Commons over the inmates having access to ammunition and weapons (as part of normal military drill.)

This was because the government at the time, were seeking to use the MCTC as a model for youth custody in civilian prisons.