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"Although he’s only 24, this isn’t his first time in prison. He’s had 52 convictions in just six years,” presenter and producer Lee Johnson says in the radio documentary House Block 6.

I’d rather sort it out while I’m young then be sat here when I’m 50-year-old

Liam

Lee is talking about Liam from Country Durham, an inmate on the Therapeutic Community Wing (TC) at Holme House prison in Stockton-on-Tees. Most prisoners on the wing have a history of drug or alcohol abuse and many live with mental health issues.

There’s only two TC Wings like this in England and Wales and getting a place isn’t easy. Every prisoner has to demonstrate good behaviour and a willingness to beat their addiction, with strict rules and a drug test every two weeks, it is all designed to better prepare them for release and to avoid them returning to prison.

Liam believes his problems go back to his childhood, “When I was eight-year-old I was setting fires,” he says. “Been caught with knifes in school, been caught with a knuckle duster in primary school”.

Liam was taken to the police station and remembers a woman saying that he “is going into care”. He remembers hearing his mum screaming.

Sitting in his cell he points to family pictures on the wall, “My sisters you see on the wall there, they went with my other Auntie to Washington and my other two little sisters come with me,” he says.

Liam had originally been refused a place on the TC Wing because of his history of fighting, drinking and rioting. After six-months with no issues he has been given a chance. When asked how the TC Wing compares to wings in other jails, Liam laughs: “we call it the dark-side over there, this is the good side,” he says.

“Really at one time I wouldn’t do this,” he says, “you realise when you get older you can’t live this life, all the time in jail. I’d rather sort it out while I’m young then be sat here when I’m 50-year-old, life’s gone then so I just want to get out and do what young lads want to do: go on holiday; fancy cars, enjoy myself”.

Liam explains how he’s learnt to read whilst being on the TC Ward, “Embarrassing really,” he says, “24-year-old, can’t read and still reading kid books".

“I couldn’t even do the alphabet six-months ago, now I’ve read a full book. I’m getting there, finally getting there".

Liam talks of his hope of leaving the TC Ward and his being able to read will help prove he has changed so he can “get his family back”.

“I’ve said this hundreds of times ‘I’ll never come back to jail’ and then two weeks later I’m back in jail,” he says.

“You can never-say-never, but hopefully ... I don’t want to come back”.

Liam’s story is one of five stories told in House Block 6, originally broadcast on Â鶹Éç Radio Tees