Warwickshire Police and The Warwick Central SNT supports a project known as Prison Me No way, where youngsters are giving the opportunity of experiencing prison life inside a real prison.

The idea behind the project is that by showing youngsters the reality of life on the inside, many of them will be dissuaded from committing offences and causing anti-social behaviour in the future.

We generally look at offering the scheme to youngsters who have committed offences and have received cautions or community orders. By showing them the consequences of further offending behaviour, ie prison, we hope to be able to encourage them to change their behaviour.

The scheme is voluntary and we have found that youngsters who have visited the prison are often quite shocked by what they discover.

Whilst at the prison they are treated as if they were one of the prisoners. they are searched before entering the prison and they are shown the cell blocks and other facilities. Prison guards are on duty to drill home to the youngsters the harshness of life inside a prison. They also have the opportunity to speak to some of the inmates to discover for themselves what prison life is really like.

If any of the youngsters go along believing the myth that prison life isn't too bad, with comfortable cells, TVs and games consoles, this misconceptions are rapidly put right.

The scheme has worked well in other areas, and Warwickshire Police have noticed similar success here, since introducing the scheme earlier this year.