Jailhouse Shock

Eight troubled British teens spend a week in one of America’s toughest jails…

- Caren Clark

With knife crime on the rise in the UK, could the traditional ‘short, sharp shock’ be the answer?

In C4’s Banged Up: Teens Behind Bars, eight troubled British teenagers are sent to take part in an ‘attitude modification’ programme in one of America’s toughest prisons.

The youngsters, who have been signed up by their families, spend a week inside Florida’s Brevard County Jail to experience the harsh realities of life on the inside.

‘The programme has been extremely successful,’ says county sheriff Wayne Ivey. ‘Roughly 70 per cent of the kids in the US have got back on the straight and narrow.’