Carl Clements became a prison officer because, he says, he, "wanted to make a difference". After a year in post at Feltham Young Offenders Institute however he was so disillusioned by the monotony of his work that he was on the verge of resigning. "I got bored and decided if I was going to stay in the job it had to have more to it than just locking and unlocking doors," he says. He went home one night and started work on a development programme for the young men he was locking up which would eventually change the way his prison operated. "I decided to call it the Believe course," he explains, "because I wanted these boys to believe in themselves – and I wanted them to know that other people believed in them too." In his own time Clements, 27, who has been a prison officer for four and a half years, visited a local army barracks to find out how young soldiers were motivated. He wanted to introduce his young charges to the idea of self-discipline, self-control and to let them experience reward for effort. "Seeing the same faces coming back time after time was heartbreaking," he says. "They needed something to give them some hope that there was a better way." Clements' bosses took some persuading however, the biggest obstacle being a lack of funding. It took him three attempts over several months until finally he paid for the costs of materials and food for his first course from his own pocket. "I needed to show them that it would work," he says.

The week-long course, now accredited by the Open College Network, aims to improve the lives of the young prisoners primarily by developing social skills and includes the teaching of the basics such as cooking and ironing. "Twelve troubled and troublesome young men with irons IN their hands is a sight to be seen," he says.

Trust is a big part of the programme. At the beginning of every course Clements and his colleagues mount a trust exercise. Standing blindfolded on a bench in the gym the officers fall backwards relying on the boys to catch them before they hit the floor. "That's the only scary bit of the course," says Clements. "But we have to show them that we trust them to get their trust. Once we have that we know that they will take what we are trying to do seriously." Clements has persuaded outside agencies and companies including the army, the Princes Trust, CISCO systems, the Connexions youth careers service and even Chelsea Football Club to become involved in the programme, which is now being piloted in other young offender institutions around the country. On completion of the course every young person who has taken part is subject to an evaluation of their progress over the week and is given a development plan so that the benefits of the course can be improved upon. Clements has also designed a "bite sized" version that looks at adult relationships, sexual health, personal hygiene, citizenship and diversity which has led to the prison's core day being redesigned. The Believe Course has been so successful that Clements has now taken it outside the walls by playing a lead role in establishing the London Youth Resettlement Project (LYRP) funded by the London Development Agency. "We need to get to these lads before they end up in places like Feltham if we can," says Clements. How does he feel now about his job? "I love it," he says. "I just love going to work."

The LYRP goes live later this month launched by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

Erwin James