Clean Record for Prison Me No Way!
2007-07-11
A prison programme to teach Jersey students that crime doesn't pay is claiming a clean record.
Prison me no Way! is a workshop which tours island schools giving pupils a taste of what life is like behind bars.
Since the scheme started five years ago, officers at La Moye say not one young person who has gone through the programme has ended up at the prison.
Now they have a new vehicle to drive the message home even further. A van with a replica cell in the back, the latest tool to help Jersey's prison service teach school pupils that crime doesn't pay.
It may only be a mock-up but it certainly has an impact. No bigger than ten foot by five, it's designed to hold two inmates and their toilet is a bucket.
It's a real wake-up call for the youngsters.
One student commented: "It's quite scary and it definitely makes you think twice about what you're going to do because it's such a small space - and you're going to be living with someone you don't know."
Also, inside the prison, to push home that message even more, there are letters on the wall from inmates at La Moye. One, from a 16-year-old boy who is serving his second prison sentence - he said it's not a nice place and that he's locked up for 18 hours a day.
A stark depiction of prison life which certainly seems to be getting through. A police spokesman said: "We've been running it over here for five years and up until now we still haven't had anybody up at La Moye who's been through the course yet. So that's quite a nice statistic because the age group when we started would have encompassed the age that we're locking up at La Moye here in Jersey."
The prison van will be doing the rounds of both primary and secondary schools.
