Schoolchildren in north London taught lessons on life behind bars

Children put in handcuffs and prison van in anti-gang drive
Handcuffs: pupils are handcuffed and put in a prison van (Picture: Glenn Copus)

London schoolchildren are being taught how it feels to be handcuffed and are shown how small a prison cell is in a bid to steer them away from gangs.

Magistrates are visiting secondary schools to give teenagers a hard-hitting glimpse of what a life of crime is really like. They want to challenge assumptions that prison life is all about “watching Sky TV”.

Pupils aged 11 and 12 at Newman Catholic College in Harlesden took part in a pilot of the scheme, which will now be rolled out across other schools in Brent.

Police van: a student is taken for a drive in the back of a police van (Picture: Glenn Copus)

Magistrate Alison Zilberkweit, who is running the Brent project, said: “We want children to make better life choices and to see the consequences if they become offenders, and how it affects their friends and family.”

She added: “We are not just trying to scare the kids so they don’t get involved in gangs. There is also the important side of understanding what it is to be a victim. They have probably been victims themselves.”

The scheme — called Your Life, You Choose — was originally launched in Ealing and is now being expanded into Brent. Magistrates, police, victim support officials, youth offending services and staff from the Serco company, which runs prisons, all visit schools for a whole day of workshops.

Uniform: a student tries on a prison officer’s riot outfit (Picture: Glenn Copus)

Throughout the pilot day in Harlesden pupils were handcuffed, put in the back of a prison van, shown what prisoners’ uniforms are like and made to stand inside an area marked out to the size of a jail cell. They were also shown a hard-hitting film about Junior Smart, an ex-gang leader who came close to suicide in prison.

Junior was featured in the Standard as part of the Frontline London anti-gang campaign. He founded the SOS Gangs Project, which helps transform the lives of 400 troubled young people and ex-offenders a year, by helping them transfer from prison to civilian life without falling back into criminal habits.

The DVD also includes testimony from Asif Rahman, a consultant in emergency medicine at Imperial College, and Vanessa Hyman, founder of A Mother’s Teardrop, whose son Anton was shot and stabbed in 2004.

All the children taking part in Harlesden were given a card with websites and phone numbers to call for help if they become victims of crime. Asked what they would do differently after taking part, one

student said: “Not get in any trouble or join a gang” while another said: “Choose a different ending.”

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has praised the scheme after seeing it in action in Ealing.

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