Former Home Secretary David Blunkett presents this hard-hitting documentary series in which ten youths spend ten days in prison. Each teenager has convictions ranging from theft to assault, but none of them have ever served time behind bars. In a unique experiment, they will find out what life in prison is truly like for the first time – but will it be enough to change their ways? In this instalment, the inmates face the parole board for the first time.

Closed for over a century, Scarborough Prison has now reopened to accept a new batch of prisoners – ten young delinquents who are at the crossroads between a life of honest toil and a life of crime. This summer, the imposing Victorian jail is to play a part in a pioneering social experiment. Ten young men, each of whom has been in regular trouble with the police, will find out what life inside is actually like. Aged 16 and 17, they have been put forward by their parents, who have been driven to their wits’ end by their children’s behaviour.

The scheme is championed by David Blunkett MP, who will monitor the inmates’ progress and sit on the prison’s parole board. Mr Blunkett regards the project as a “second chance” for the teenagers involved. “Warning young people off a life of crime and giving them an alternative path in life surely has to make good common sense,” he says.

Now five days into their ten-day prison term, the young offenders are due to go before the parole board. In a real prison, parole is granted or denied at the halfway point of a life sentence. If the inmates can convince the panel that they have changed, they will be allowed to go home the following day. Sitting on the board are Mr Blunkett, prison general Professor David Wilson, criminologist Martin Glynn and clinical psychologist Dr Funké Baffour.

First to face the formidable line-up is James from Manchester. When Mr Blunkett asks him what he is looking for in life, James answers, “A nice house, a fast car and a nice bird.”

Birmingham boy Adam fares better when Dr Baffour asks him to define what respect means to him. “Acknowledging the other person is equal,” he says, “not thinking that I’m any better than them, talking to them in a polite way.”

But it is Justin who gets the best reception from the board. “You’ve impressed from the start,” says Professor Wilson. “What you see is what you get with you.” Not only has the Stockport lad proven his mettle in prison by volunteering to work as a catering orderly, he also has a promising future ahead of him having won a place in the Royal Engineers. During his interview, he recites a rap he has composed about the lessons he has learned from the experiment: “I’m not going back full circle down that track I’ve come.”

With their meetings out of the way, the boys now have to play a waiting game. The ex-cons know only too well how difficult this period of limbo can be. “I’ve seen people crawl the walls,” recalls Bob from Liverpool, who served nine years in jail for drug dealing. But unlike real-life jail, the inmates do not have to wait days or weeks to learn their fate. Out of all the young men, only one is granted parole – Justin. As his friends congratulate him, Justin is not the only one to shed some tears. Dave from Ipswich, who served nine years for burglary and handling stolen goods, breaks down as he reflects on what might have been. “If someone was to give me that chance when I was a kid, I wouldn’t have had to go through what I went through,” he says.

The next day, Justin packs his things and returns home. As he relaxes on the sofa with a takeaway pizza, the nine remaining boys’ only experience of the outside world is to be a single short visiting hour. “You try and grab everything you can out of that hour,” Bob recalls.

Among the visitors are Adam’s girlfriend and her newborn daughter. This close family bond is important to the 17-year-old, whose father disowned him two years ago. But after the happy reunion comes a tearful farewell. “I don’t want her to grow up to be like me,” he says. “Like I was.”