The 17-year-old, who is serving a four-year sentence for a serious offence, is crouched beneath some family pictures, in front of her mirror, wrestling with a hair band. "I've got carpet, soft pillows and a proper duvet," she points out proudly.
When Lisa (not her real name) transferred from Holloway Young Offender Institution (YOI) seven months ago, she became one of the first inmates at the new Josephine Butler Unit at HMP Downview in Sutton, Surrey.
The unit was officially launched at the end of July, away from the press glare but in front of the great and good of youth justice, including Youth Justice Board chair Rod Morgan and Martin Narey, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, who is due to move to Barnardo's next month. At the launch, Lisa read out one of her poems, recounting her lonely childhood with an abusive father.
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