'It's not easy in jail. If you value your life stay away from gangs'

Wole Osinlaru, 23, part of the Essex Road Boys crew in north London, warned aspiring gang members to "stay away if you value your life". He has been in prison since 2008 for his part in a failed armed robbery on a watch store near Harrods.

He became part of the gang in Highbury as a teenager and started his descent into crime after being "brainwashed" into believing he could take whatever he wanted.

Speaking from HMP Isis in Thamesmead, where he is serving six years for armed robbery, Osinlaru said the day he was sentenced in 2009 was the worst of his life.

But he added: "[It was] also the best day of my life because it gave me an opportunity. I have to be able to deal with it or I will be here for the rest of my life. It is not easy in here, I can tell you that. Every day is a struggle. I have to block it out and take each day as it comes or else it can break you.

"I have seen many people break in here. Some of them feel really guilty about what they have done and some feel really bad about what they have done to their families. I have to live with that. I miss my mum and my brothers, I missed my youngest brother going to university and my little sister growing up.

"My little brother, who was born after I went to prison, has not seen me in his life and I miss him so much."

Since becoming established in the early 2000s the Essex Road Boys, based in the Caledonian Road and Essex Road areas of Islington, were thought to have been responsible for several smash-and-grab raids.

During the robbery in December 2008 on Watches of Switzerland in Knightsbridge, Osinlaru and accomplice Billy Stewart smashed glass cabinets containing £700,000 of watches as shoppers and staff dived for cover.

It later emerged that Osinlaru was on probation at the time he committed the robbery, having been released from prison four weeks earlier after serving two years of a four-year sentence for a "cash in transit" robbery.

Now studying for a degree in health and social care, he hopes to become a drugs worker to help young people like himself.

He said: "I would say stay away [from gangs] if you value your life and love your family. If you feel it is bad for you then trust your feeling and go.

"You are part of this gang, you carry it everywhere you go. If you get into a bit of trouble you tell people where you are from. When you start getting to even 14 it stops being a group of friends and starts being who you are."

Isis prison and young offender institution opened in July 2010 and is the first new state-run prison in 20 years. Sited within Belmarsh, it houses a number of gang members, as well as many inmates moved from their old prisons after they were flooded with rioters last summer.

Governor Grahame Hawkings said the prison offered "thinking skills" courses to help offenders learn self-restraint and find non-violent ways to solve their problems, as well as vocational courses such as mechanics.

Q&A

How many gangs are there in London?

Scotland Yard says it has identified 400 but 250 are active and a threat. Of these, 62 are considered to be "high harm" while gangs are active in 19 boroughs. There are estimated to be 4,800 gang members. Police insiders say the figures could be higher.

How dangerous are the gangs?

Police say gangs are behind 17 per cent of muggings, 40 per cent of "cash in transit" and commercial robberies, 12 per cent of residential burglaries, 26 per cent of doorstep burglaries, 14 per cent of rapes, 22 per cent of serious violence, 20 per cent of stabbings and 50 per cent of shootings. Several teenage murders each year are linked to gangs.

Who are the gang members?

They are overwhelmingly male and young. Around 84 per cent are under 24. Police say that gangs have younger members who are early to late teenagers but are often led by males in their twenties and even early thirties. Figures show that 70 per cent of the 4,800 gang members are black.

Are street gangs the same as organised crime gangs?

Broadly no, but the picture is far more complicated. There are postcode gangs, street gangs based on estates and organised crime gangs. Often those which start off on the street become involved in drug trafficking. But the street gangs are different from serious organised Turkish or British family crime concerns.