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Kids Behind Bars

Each year in Britain, we lock up 2,000 school-age children. Vinney Green Secure Unit locks up some of the youngest and the most troubled; the kids no one else can manage – whether they are a danger to each other, or a danger to themselves. Filmed over a year, with unprecedented access to the unit, the children and the staff who care for them, this extraordinary series tells their stories and finds out what’s being done to set them straight. It documents the journeys of boys and girls who are behind bars, and follows the daily life at Vinney Green as the staff try to change them.

Vinney Green houses 24 children aged from 10 to 17. Some have committed very serious crimes. Others began getting into trouble when they were at primary school. Some are sent here for their own protection. And for some, simply the chaos of their lives has led them down the wrong path. For most this is their last chance – and an opportunity to change. In their own words, they explain what it’s like to be locked up while you’re still a child.

This film follows three of the youngest boys in Vinney Green, who started getting into serious trouble when they were just nine years old. Kalem has been inside the longest and faces spending his teenage years behind bars – “I went the down the wrong way”. Kieran is there for the second time, but with only a few weeks at the unit it will be hard for the staff to have any effect. Tali has just arrived, but is so volatile he’s struggling to fit in – “I’m not a guy that likes people around me 24/7 – I’m a guy that likes being free so it’s hard for me…” .

Are they being locked up to punish them or change them? And can Vinney Green turn them around?

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  1. in theory if they couldn’t afford even 5 bucks for a train ride, the kids are probably better off in shitty prison

  2. Strange thing it seems that these kids are in there as some kind of punishment when they are possibly having a better time there then at home /regular school. As a deterrent to bad behavior this institution fails but it really seems to be more of a place to stash troubled kids from the public than having to deal with them.

    Things such as them having access to video games, TV and other items that take them away from learning the skills of co habitation, and the way that every guard seems to just passively or at best, half heartedly try to break up situations when they occur. They just stand there and watch as the fights break out and press their button, not moving in to immediately breaking the fights up after that, instead waiting.
    Like the scene shown by the camera footage at the pool table, when the kids are tipping over a gaming table she hardly reacts, when they start pushing and shoving each other she just stands their, looking, when they run around punching kicking and throwing pool balls at each other she half-heartedly tries to reach her arm out at them but still does nothing.
    If you are there to interviene and stop the fights then do so, knwong that these are just kids and that help is, as they state, at most 30 seconds away.

  3.  I`m a stonemason living and working on the west coast of Ireland and i would happily give an employment opportunity to kids like this, i`m no stranger to wild behaviour, was a drug addict myself up until 10 years ago but finally got it together, all these kids need is a chance in life, the chances most people take for granted, i wish them all good luck for the future.

  4.  I`m a stonemason living and working on the west coast of Ireland and i would happily give an employment opportunity to kids like this, i`m no stranger to wild behaviour, was a drug addict myself up until 10 years ago but finally got it together, all these kids need is a chance in life, the chances most people take for granted, i wish them all good luck for the future.

  5.  I`m a stonemason living and working on the west coast of Ireland and i would happily give an employment opportunity to kids like this, i`m no stranger to wild behaviour, was a drug addict myself up until 10 years ago but finally got it together, all these kids need is a chance in life, the chances most people take for granted, i wish them all good luck for the future.

  6. These kids would be in for a rude awakening in the states – this looks like a damned hilton

  7. These kids would be in for a rude awakening in the states – this looks like a damned hilton

  8. Unwatchable. The video takes ages to load and then stalls. Disappointing.

  9. Calem seems so much nicer now even apologising when he accidentally kicks the ball at someone! well done to the staff this shows they have made a big difference 🙂

  10. Calem seems so much nicer now even apologising when he accidentally kicks the ball at someone! well done to the staff this shows they have made a big difference 🙂

  11. Typical of British Justice, it’s amazing just how stupid some people can be!!!!!  The fact that this country is a country of dogs, I blame all on justice.  Vinney Green was like Butlins, a waste of tax payers money and it’s no surprise the kids commit again and again!  Going to school like REAL KIDS is a lot stricter than that bullshit!

  12. “Governments are supposed to help and protect society”,  that’s the belief that causes most of societies problems.  What ever happened to personal responsibility.  There is none anymore which is the cause of most of societies issues…too many believe someone else is responsible for their actions. 

    Trust me I worked with kids like this and in most cases the parents suck but then government institutions make the kids the tyrants the become.

  13. “Governments are supposed to help and protect society”,  that’s the belief that causes most of societies problems.  What ever happened to personal responsibility.  There is none anymore which is the cause of most of societies issues…too many believe someone else is responsible for their actions. 

    Trust me I worked with kids like this and in most cases the parents suck but then government institutions make the kids the tyrants the become.

  14. Some serious issues and short sighted comments don’t give productive ideas on how to change things. It is a failing of society and governments are supposed to help and protect society. Stop giving more shit to peoples whos lives are often shitter than yours. Educate and encourage and try to change the world

  15. Some serious issues and short sighted comments don’t give productive ideas on how to change things. It is a failing of society and governments are supposed to help and protect society. Stop giving more shit to peoples whos lives are often shitter than yours. Educate and encourage and try to change the world

  16. These little shits need to exterminated like rodents and pests. They will never change. They will be prison material before long.

  17. if someone sterilized them all we would hardly have lost the cure for cancer would we

  18. if someone sterilized them all we would hardly have lost the cure for cancer would we

  19. ‘uit comes across as being some form of thugs eutopia, where they can do what ever the hell
    they know they can get away way with. The greavist form of discipline is a red card, which
    means a confiscation of there playstation. The place is a joke and so to are the extreme
    liberal close minded fuck wits that run the fuckin gaff, what a bloody waste of tax payers
    money. They are repeat offenders who could not give a fuck about any body else a part
    from them selves the selfish little fucks.

  20. ‘uit comes across as being some form of thugs eutopia, where they can do what ever the hell
    they know they can get away way with. The greavist form of discipline is a red card, which
    means a confiscation of there playstation. The place is a joke and so to are the extreme
    liberal close minded fuck wits that run the fuckin gaff, what a bloody waste of tax payers
    money. They are repeat offenders who could not give a fuck about any body else a part
    from them selves the selfish little fucks.

  21. lol what a waste of human life. If they commit suicide they would have been better off just like their parents. 

    How dumb can you be to not be able to teach your child anything.

  22. kidz r perfect angles.

  23. too bad beating kids went out of style

  24. Bring back National Service for the little cunts.