PRISON governor Tim Allen was sent to jail last week.

The governor of HMP Durham found himself in Hexham’s Old Gaol to officially launch a new permanent exhibition which inmates have helped bring to life.

Beyond the Borders is an innovative new digital exhibition created for Hexham Old Gaol.

The Heritage Lottery funded project tells the stories of three Reiver prisoners who once languished in the oldest purpose built prison in the country.

It previewed to the public on Saturday, November 21 for one day only, but will be open again on the town’s Christmas market day, Saturday, December 12.

Mr Allen said inmates at his prison had gained a lot in terms of literacy and numeracy from the Dilly Arts project founded by Alison Redshaw-Boxwell of Allendale.

“I think this type of project is essential to support the education that we do in prisons,” said Mr Allen.

“It’s not lost on me that this is the oldest gaol in the country and I probably run the oldest operating prison in the North of England and the pains of imprisonment now are still as important as they were years ago.

“Obviously conditions are a lot better but prisoners come from a lot of vulnerable backgrounds and there’s a lot of work we need to do to get them back to being good citizens.

“Unlike in the 13th century, pretty well everyone is going to go back into the communities they’ve come from and we know that if we give people skills to engage in society and to gain employment, they should then be able to lead a fulfilling life.”

Historian John Sadler and creative writer Sheree Mack worked with men in high security HMP Frankland and HMP Durham and with women inmates at HMP YOI Low Newton.

Animator Nick Lewis, from Arcus Animation Studios, brought the prisoners’ stories to life in moving pictures that visitors can watch on handheld tablets.

“Everyone had quite clear opinions about the way they wanted the characters to look and behave,” said Nick.

“The women at Low Newton said one of the things they missed was knowing their children were growing up and not being there to teach them things they were taught when they were children and this is reflected in the story of the woman Reiver on the top floor of the gaol.”

Anya Kovalieva and Lalya Gaye, of Attaya Projects, have ensured the new additions to Hexham Old Gaol work well with the existing displays, even down to creating bespoke leather, wood or embroidered casing for the different storytelling tablets or ‘time windows’.

Lalya said: “We want visitors to feel like they have a personal connection with the person telling the story.”

Janet Goodridge, from Hexham Old Gaol, said: “We felt we needed the actual prisoners’ voices coming out into the gaol and this has given us a window through time on to these stories.”