A CRIME prevention and youth education project will have a captive audience when it takes its message into a Bishop Auckland school.

Pupils will feel the full force of the law for a day and could even by locked up by prison officers when they set up a mock jail in their classrooms.

The pioneering approach to raising awareness of the consequences of crime will give youngsters a taste of what happens to offenders.

With police, magistrates and prison officers taking part, everything at King James 1st Community College, Bishop Auckland, will be as authentic as possible on May 23, when staff at Deerbolt Young Offenders' Institution, in Barnard Castle, get their Prison Me? No Way! programme under way.

There will be a prison reception and life-sized cell, while a typical prison exercise period will replace football in the yard.

Fire and ambulance vehicles will add a touch of realism, while victim support and youth offending teams will also play a part.

Although King James 1st Community College staff have stressed that only a small minority of pupils may become involved in crime, they have asked all year nine pupils to enter into the spirit of the day.

Tony Galley, principal officer at Deerbolt, said: "We recognise that there is a lot of pressure on young people today. Drugs, unfortunately, are accessible, and a minority of young people become involved in things like vandalism, car crime and shoplifting.

"But life is about making the right choices. Shoplifting is not a lark, it is a crime, and this scheme will show people the consequences of making the wrong choices. The project is aimed at steering young people away from crime and to promote positive life skill development and for them to learn that the law is there to protect as well as to punish."