Jersey Archive releases historic documents

Jersey Archive has released records going back 100 years

More than 200 historic documents have been made available at the Jersey Archive.

They include court and police registers, minutes from a mental health committee and alien registration cards.

One record shows details of a 17-year-old boy being sentenced to forced labour for shoplifting.

Linda Romeril of the Jersey Archive said the documents could only be released after a certain amount of time.

Another record shows how gallons of beer were given to the so-called lunatics, who were often islanders suffering from depression or women who got pregnant outside of marriage.

Ms Romeril said: "The aliens card, the closure period is set on date of birth, so for everybody who was born in 1910, we are now at the hundred-year mark so in 2011 those records become open.

"Next year we will have the next batch and, because they contain personal information, especially the lunatic asylum committee, there is some sensitive information in there."