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Last modified April 14, 2008 by Matt Machell
Birmingham City University Criminologist "Banged Up with Blunkett"
Birmingham City University criminologist David Wilson is going back to one of his former jobs - prison governor - in a groundbreaking reality television experiment.
He’ll appear alongside the former Home Secretary David Blunkett, who is hosting the new Channel Five programme.
Entitled ‘Banged Up With Blunkett’, the show is set to be broadcast this summer.
It focuses on ten persistent young offenders who volunteered to be locked up in a former jail in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, in an effort to mend their ways.
The participants are all juvenile delinquents, many with drug or alcohol problems, who fear they could end up in jail for real.
Professor Wilson is the “governor” of the prison, while Mr Blunkett chairs a “parole board” which meets every day to discuss whether any of the inmates should be released.
The participants are also lectured daily by former criminals on the need to go straight.
Prior to taking up an academic appointment in 1997, David Wilson was a prison governor and at 29 became the youngest governing governor in England. He worked at Grendon, Wormwood Scrubs and at Woodhill in Milton Keynes, where he designed and ran the two units for the 12 most violent prisoners in the country.
He said of the show: “It will make waves, I’m sure.”
Mr Blunkett said: "The prime task of any criminal justice system is to prevent people from committing to crime in the first place, then to avoid re-offending.
"Getting across a clear message, forewarning young people what prison is like and encouraging them to take an alternative path in life has to make sense."
Added by Matt Machell on April 14, 2008