BBC Documentaries

Banged up and Left to Fail? (2014x75)

Air date: Apr 07, 2014

Natalie seems like any other university student on her Policing, Investigation and Criminology degree, but she has more experience than most. From the age of 13, she was repeatedly in and out of the criminal justice system. It took Natalie nine years to stop offending and she believes it was support from outside - rather than inside the prison system - that helped her change. Natalie's story isn't unique. Nearly 60 per cent of all offenders on a short sentence will commit further crimes within a year of release from prison. In this documentary, Natalie explores the impact being locked up has had on young adult offenders like Sephton, who spent most of his adolescence in prison and now struggles with basic tasks such as food shopping and cooking a meal. She also meets those in charge, such as Minister for Prisons and Rehabilitation, Jeremy Wright, to find out what the government are doing to tackle our high re-offending rates.