Originally posted by quinner
St Conleth’s Reformatory School in Daingean, County Offaly was different from all the other institutions inquired into by the Commission. It was a reformatory and, unlike the children in industrial schools, most of those in a reformatory had been convicted by the courts of criminal offences that would in the case of adults have been punishable by imprisonment or penal servitude. At the time of conviction, boys were aged between 12 and 17, and were committed for between two and four years, but the period of detention could not extend beyond their 19th birthday.
Saint Conleth was an Irish hermit and metalworker, also said to have been a copyist and skilled illuminator of manuscripts. He is believed to have come from the Wicklow area.
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