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'Banged Up: Teens Behind Bars' Sees Tearaway Kids Sent To One Of America's Toughest Prisons

Rachel Andrews

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'Banged Up: Teens Behind Bars' Sees Tearaway Kids Sent To One Of America's Toughest Prisons

Featured Image Credit: Channel 4

A new Channel 4 show will see badly behaved British teens sent to experience life in one of America's toughest prisons in a bid to curb their wayward attitudes.

Banged Up: Teens Behind Bars will hit screens on Monday, 29th April, with eight teens aged between 15 and 17 sent to a tough Florida jail to live and work in an existing American programme called Behaviour Attitude Modification.

The radical scheme is designed to keep badly behaved teenagers on the straight and narrow, encouraging them to make life choices that will keep them out of trouble - and prison.

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According to Channel 4, this is the first time British teens have taken part in a scheme like this one.

Six teenage boys and two girls will experience the full harsh reality of life behind bars at Florida's Brevard County Jail, with Sheriff Wayne Ivey running a very tight ship.

Credit: Channel 4
Credit: Channel 4

His motto is: "We need to get to these kids before they get to us."

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Brevard County jail is home to 1,600 male, female and juvenile prisoners, all charged with crimes ranging from theft to prostitution and multiple murder.

Some of the teens heading into the jail have already been in trouble with the law and their parents are at their wits' end.

Hugh Connell, 16, from Market Harborough in Leicestershire was one of those taking part in the radical social experiment.

His mum called producers to beg them to take him after run-ins with the law, including being arrested when he was 16 for carrying a machete.

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Credit: Channel 4
Credit: Channel 4

All of the teens are shackled, handcuffed and 'booked in', being treated in exactly the same way as regular inmates.

They also spend time working the jail's kitchen and laundry room, and be part of a chain gang working on the roads.

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The teenagers are stripped of all home comforts, only being allowed to call their family once and they must follow rigid routines, which include military-style drills.

Credit: Channel 4
Credit: Channel 4

And in a bid to really hammer the message home, they will hear cautionary tales from alleged murderers and former gang-members before taking a trip to the police morgue where they'll see real life murder victims.

Channel 4's new show arrives at a time when youth knife crime is up 64 per cent in the past five years.

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Ian Dunkley, Commissioning Editor, Factual Entertainment at Channel 4 said: "The series poses an intriguing question - at a time when knife crime and youth offending in the UK is on the rise, could exposing wayward teens to the harsh reality of prison life act as a deterrent to them spending a life behind bars?"

Credit: Channel 4
Credit: Channel 4

Nick Godwin, Executive Producer at Britespark Films added: "It's never been more important to look at new ways of keeping at risk youngsters out of prison and out of the cemetery - we're hoping this will be a compelling and thought-provoking addition to the debate."

Banged Up: Teens Behind Bars airs on Channel 4 on Monday, 29th April at 9pm.

Topics: TV Entertainment, Channel 4

Rachel Andrews
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