Prison? Me? No Way!
Thursday, February 8 2007
Over two hundred youngsters at Galashiels Academy experienced a day at school like no other on Friday (2nd February) when they were given a taste of prison life.
The pupils were completely removed from their normal school day and treated like prisoners while being escorted round a series of workshops which educated them about the causes, consequences and penalties of crime.
The award-winning scheme which is run by the ‘Prison Me No Way’ trust in conjunction with the Scottish Prison Service is designed to encourage participants to respect the value of their freedom whilst experiencing first hand the consequences of crime - through the restrictive regimes of a prisoner.
Volunteers from Her Majesty’s Prison Service, Lothian and Borders Police and Fire and Rescue service, Phoenix Futures and the British Red Cross took part in the event providing several highly interactive sessions. The youngsters witnessed an accident scene; learned about the realities of prison life including a visit to a mock prison-cell; took part in a role-play scenarios to witness the consequences of anti-social behaviour; learned about the repercussions of using illegal drugs; heard an audio tape of an 18-year-old who was sent to prison for life and watched a video about those who have lost family members as a result of car crime.
Craig Mercer from the Scottish Prison Service was the main facilitator for the event and explained the importance of the scheme:
“The sessions have been specially designed to ensure youngsters recognise their own ability to make the right choices and realise the consequences of their actions if they don’t. Using an innovative and highly interactive approach to learning, the scheme aims to reduce or remove the possibility of offending behaviour at a crucial stage in these young people’s lives,” he said.
Fiona Hamilton was one of the students who took part in the event and explained why she felt the event was an effective way of preventing crime: “I don’t think my friends and I realised how bad it would be to be in prison until after today. When you see prison on television, it doesn’t seem that bad but the workshops today really shocked us. I think this event has really made us think about the consequences of our actions – I really enjoyed it.”
The award-winning scheme is organised by the ‘Prison me no way’ (PMNW) Trust in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service and has been a huge success all over the country.
A further two sessions will take place in the Scottish Borders on:
Monday, 19th February at Jedburgh Grammar School
Tuesday, 20th February at Hawick High School
For more information please visit www.pmnw.co.uk or call Craig Mercer at the Scottish Prison Service on 0131 444 3183.
Unified Solutions.