A Portland prison has become the first jail in the South West to run a specially designed reform scheme for young offenders.

The Portland Young Offender Institution (YOI) set up its own scheme, which gives inmates a taste of the Prince's Trust Volunteers programme and encourages them to enrol on a course once they are released.

The Prince's Trust has helped thousands of youngsters into work and training through its confidence-building courses.

The 12-week volunteer programme, one of which is run from a base in Weymouth, sees young people work as a team in the community and on a residential course, learn new skills and find a work placement.

Ex-prisoners are among the groups who are targeted by the organisation because they often lack the confidence, knowledge or ability to access support from the voluntary sector, an area which plays an important role in helping young people to break the cycle of re-offending.

Six YOI inmates coming to the end of their sentences took part in the nine-day taster course which was run by the prison's resettlement team.

Sarah Horner, a member of the team, said: "The pre-Prince's Trust programme helps to rebuild self-esteem and confidence and encourages participants to think about the future.

"It includes the preparation of a development plan and the building of a portfolio of evidencing areas such as teamwork, communication, tolerance, leadership and taking responsibility, all of which are linked in with key skills.

"Participants also gain a first aid qualification. It fits in well with our Custody to Work initiative as it involves preparation for employment, training or education on release and increases the likelihood of a positive opportunity for participants."

The highlight of the course was said to be a charity car wash which raised £70 for the Borstal Bash summer event.

The residential phase was also successful as the inmates took part in night-time navigation, map reading and cooking.

The course was rounded off with a presentation by the inmates to the prison governor, resettlement team staff and representatives from the Prince's Trust.

Sarah Horner added: "The course was no holiday. It was hard work but also very enjoyable.

"We expect to run more taster courses in the future. The hope is to run three or four a year."

Portland YOI is the first prison in the South West to run the course and only the second in the country.