Giyon Olua grew up in Enfield, north London, and can't remember all the crimes he committed before his 16th birthday. Those offences led to him being sentenced on three separate occasions behind bars at Feltham Young Offender Institution (YOI). Now aged 17, he realises his life was a mess: "I never got on with my family and mixed with the wrong crowd. I did a lot of things like robbery and assault."
He became trapped in a cycle consisting of offending, jail, release and reconviction. But during his third stretch at Feltham last year, something changed. Three months before he was due for release in November 2010 he asked to be transferred to Feltham's Heron Wing, a specialist unit where up to 30 young offenders receive support before they are released back into the community.
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