From Prison To Project Leader

I had a very strict upbringing - I grew up in a middle class suburban area on the outskirts of Birmingham and went to an all-girls' school. When I left school at 17 I started hanging around with people who were into drugs and crime. We got involved in petty shoplifting and fraud and got away with it time and time again. It wasn't like I woke up one day and thought, "I'm going to get involved in crime," it was more about the social environment I was in. When I look back at it now, I think it was a backlash against my family and my strict upbringing and it just spiraled out of control.

In 2001, I got arrested three times. On the third arrest, in November, my friend and I were put on bail and had to go to magistrates' court in January. We spent Christmas worrying about what would happen. I had to see a probation officer to do a pre-sentence report; she considered my background and put me down as 'low risk'. She was convinced we'd get away with 20-40 hours' community punishment.

We stood in court for what seemed like forever while the judge went to think over our punishment. The door to the court opened and something just told me we were going to prison. The judge told us they were clamping down and she wasn't happy to see two young ladies in front of her so we were going to prison for 28 days. It felt like they were just trying to make an example of us.

At the time, my main concern was that my car was parked outside the courts and that my family would find it!