By Shola Adenekan

Drugs often lead to a life of crime and imprisonment

Forty-six school pupils from London and the Midlands packed into mini-buses on a prison visit.

Their teachers for the day were inmates, who said their present predicaments stemmed from drug use.

The over-confident, the shy and the restless: the children filed into a single line under the sharp orders of a prison officer and a policeman, into Wing A.

They were shown a foul-smelling shower room, where, according to prison officials, physical abuse sometime takes place.

'Frustration and abuse'

Then they saw the tiny kitchen where dozens of inmates are served food and the "association" room meant for a few hours of daily relaxation.

They were also given a detailed description of the 7ft by 6ft cells where prisoners spend most of their time.

"This is where you're going to end up if you don't listen," Glen Banks, the programme's co-ordinator, said.

"Forget what you've read in the newspapers or seen on television.

"Imprisonment can make people suicidal. There is frustration and physical abuse, so listen and learn."

Choices

Welcome to the Youth and Community Project at Her Majesty's Prison Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire.

It has been running since 2000. Mr Banks said the aim was to educate young people and to emphasise the importance of making choices relating to drugs, crime and peer pressure.

Glen Banks shows pupils a prison-made weapon

So far, inmates have made more than 550 individual presentations, addressing more 12,000 pupils, ranging in age from 11 to 15.

The main features of the visit were the role-play presentations and personal testimonies by the prisoners. The role-play depicted the story of two young men as they start a life of crime, one influencing the other, but both taking part in criminal activities.

They moved on to make individual choices in their lives, with different consequences for each of them.

One introduced drugs into his life and became engrossed in crime, ending up in prison. The other changed his ways and ended up running a successful business.

The presentation was interspersed with personal testimonies from the prisoners, photographs and a short video on bullying in prisons.

Examples of prison-made weapons were also presented to demonstrate levels of violence and bullying.

Teachers and prison officials said more and more schoolchildren were experimenting with drugs.

A testimony to their observations could be seen in the few bold hands that went up after one inmate asked if there were regular drug-users among the pupils.

You can't just tell students to stop taking drugs because they'll do it anyway Teacher Jackie Hamilton

So, can a scheme like this stop children from experimenting with drugs?

"Children need to be educated about drug use," Jackie Hamilton, a teacher from an inner-city London school said.

"You can't just tell students to stop taking drugs because they'll do it anyway. I think meeting other people whose lives have been destroyed by drugs will have an immense impact on them."

Ms Hamilton said teachers should not try to impose their views on students but take them to a programme like this.

"A pupil who smoke weed, for example, should be advised on the consequence on lung infection and other related health problems. Even if that did not encourage the pupil to stop totally, it would make them think about reducing drug use."

Teaching the parents

She also advised parents to get more involved in educating their children. Parents themselves needed some education about drugs, as they did not seem not to know where to go for help.

"Whenever parents find their children taking drugs, their initial reaction is often to tell them to stop. They don't have the education to tell their children the reasons to stop."

The prisoners said they were not telling young people not to do drugs, but telling them about the choices they have to make.

This is scary stuff Teenage girl

Jimmy, 39, is a former drug addict who has been in and out of prison for more than half his life.

He is currently serving a 12-year sentence for "wounding with intent." His victim was paralysed.

"Crime and drugs go hand-in-hand, it is a natural progression," he told his audience.

"This is not a story of what will happen if you do drugs; this is what happened to me.

"This is a fact. I knew friends who are not alive today just because of drug and crime."

"Think about your life and the impact of drug abuse. The reality is that drug abuse leads to a life of crime."

After three hours the students filed out, rather more subdued than when they first arrived.

"This is scary stuff," said a teenage girl who professed to frequent use of soft drugs.

"I think I'm going to work on my drug problems from now on."