A THURROCK teenager was the main subject of a BBC documentary The Prisoners.
Jade West (18) was followed by the BBC film crew as she tried to break a cycle of offending.
Jade, a former student at the Chafford Hundred Campus (now Harris Academy Chafford) was first seen in a distressed state in HMP Holloway, where she is seen trying to kill herself.
Jade then returned to Thurrock, where she visited her nan in Corringham before she returned home to Stanford House in East Tilbury.
Jade explained to the BBC that she is estranged from her mother who “Was also in and out of jail.”
However, Jade was soon back in jail as she breached her probation. This appears to be because she finds it difficult to get to Grays probation services from East Tilbury for a 11am appointment.
Jade is documented going into meltdown with another series of suicide attempts.
Throughout the film, Jade is aware of her behaviour and conscious that she is letting people down.
Jade returned to the streets of Grays where the cameras juxtaposed her writing a touching letter to the prison wardens with an increase in her drinking habits.
Jade is filmed at a meeting with her probation officers in Grays, where drunk, she discusses her alcoholism with her officer, Jane Palmer.
Jade issues a torrent of abuse at her officer and then storms out.
Jade defiantly said: “If I want to spend the rest of my life in prison, I will.”
Jade is last seen returning to HMP Holloway after a catalogue of crimes in Thurrock.
Jade said: “I always take the easy way out.”