PUPILS turned up for a day at school -- and ended up in handcuffs.

But the children from St Joseph's High School, Horwich, were not complaining at spending a day on the wrong side of the law. That was because the day was all part of their school work.

The Year 10 pupils were the first schoolchildren in Bolton to experience an innovative "Prison Me, No Way" roadwshow created three years ago to visit schools and warn about the perils of crime.

The 14 and 15-year-olds experienced a taste of prison and, along with other pupils, were divided into five "wings" -- resembling life in a jail. The wings took it in turn to visit workshops run by prison warders, representatives of Victim Support, Greater Manchester Fire Brigade, the Ambulance Service and the O2 mobile phone company.

All the organisations gave their time free and many of the warders used their days off to visit the Chorley New Road school.

The prison officers, who had come from jails in Hindley, Liverpool, Wakefield and Durham, gave a hardhitting talk on day-to-day life behind bars. They brought along handcuffs, shackles, food trays and prison clothes, including a coloured pair of striped pyjamas worn by inmates likely to make an escape bid.

Representatives of the phone company and fire brigade warned of the dangers of hoax calls and mobile phone thieves, while paramedics told of the consequences of "joyriding" accidents. A spokesman from Victim Support explained the implications a crime can have on innocent people for years afterwards.

Andy Platt was a warder for 11 years before becoming a co-ordinator for the "Prison Me, No Way" scheme.

He said: "It's very easy to frighten kids, but we need to educate them in a fun manner. If we tell them not to do something, they will do it, so we have to give them the choices and let them make a decision."

Pupil Lindsey Bushell, aged 15, said: "I'll be good from now on! A lot of what we've been told has been shocking and we'll remember it."

The roadshow visits Turton High School on July 12.