PRISON inmates have taken part in a new hard-hitting initiative designed to make students aware of the consequences of their actions.

Police, firefighters and magistrates court and prison officials also joined the annual Focus day staged at Risedale Sports and Community College, Hipswell, Catterick Garrison.

One session saw three women serving sentences for murder, money laundering and drugs offences talk about life inside and the life-decisions that landed them there.

And prison officer Graham Holgate explained how jails were full of people who had inadvertently made the wrong choices.

One prisoner explained how she had been jailed because her business partner had laundered £11m through her bank account.

Another said she had been convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs but had only been in the house that was raided to buy furniture.

And a third was serving life for murder because her boyfriend had stabbed someone but she had been there and tried to cover it up.

The charity Prison Me No Way organised a street scene showing how situations can turn violent because of alcohol.

Students were also given a taste of the court process with a mock trial and shown the consequences of arson and hoax calls.

Organiser Joy Fraser said: “Focus day is a powerful way of getting young people to think about their futures in a positive way and also show the negative aspects of following the wrong path.”