Birmingham law students gain a new perspective on life while visiting death row, reports Education Correspondent Kat Keogh.

Laden with case files, a young law intern passes through the myriad of security at a US penitentiary before being ushered into a room by prison guards.

There, separated by a wall of glass, sits a death row prisoner, who the student believes could be executed for a crime they did not commit.

It may sound like something out of an American crime thriller, but the scene became an everyday occurrence for a group of students from Birmingham City University.

The university’s Law School’s Centre for American Legal Studies operates the UK’s largest student internship programme to the USA.

A group of up to 40 students give up their summers to gain practical work experience of the American legal system, handling the cases of people facing the death penalty.

The programme, which was established in 1994, has placed more than 500 students in Federal and State Public Defender offices, private attorney offices, law projects and organisations across the USA.

Interns take on a range of legal work, including preparing cross-examinations, direct client representation and dealing with expert witnesses on alleged wrongful convictions.

Among those who took part in the programme was student Kelly Grainger who got a chance to visit prisoners on death row while working in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 21-year-old from Stourbridge said: “It really put things into perspective.

“Everyone has an idea of what prisoners are like, but visiting them gave me a chance to get to know the person behind the case and see that they’re not that different to us.

“It’s not all high-powered like you see in films, these attoreys are working really long hours on low pay and it was inspiring to work alongside them.”

For Solihull student Matt Aiello the experience included working on a death row case where public feeling “was still running high”.

In May 1992, 20-year-old Eric Houston, a former pupil at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, California, opened fire, killing three students and a teacher and wounding nine others.

Houston was sentenced was sentenced to death a year later, and is currently held at the infamous San Quentin State Prison, which houses the largest death row for males in any US prison.

Matt, 32, spent a month on Houston’s case, which was the basis of the film Detention: The Siege at Johnson High, supporting the principal lawyer and helping to put together an appeal petition.

He said: “It was hard work but interesting because it was a high profile case, and public feeling was running high about it. I’d been in touch with the principal lawyer all year so I was up to speed with the case when I arrived in the States.”

Fellow student Sarah Deakin, a third year, travelled to Oracle, an Arizona outpost with just 3,500 residents.

The 20-year-old lived and worked alongside a local attorney for two months working on capital cases.

Her work included frequent visits to Arizona State Prison in Florence, where she visited four death row prisoners.

Sarah said: “Before you get to speak to the prisoners, you have to go through what looks like airport security and even then you only speak to them behind a wall of glass.

“I wasn’t scared, more inquisitive really. I’d read up on all the cases and knew about the people before I went to visit them and if anything meeting them gave me that drive to work harder on their cases.

“I want to be a defence lawyer, so it was incredible experience.

‘‘You’d never get that sort of exposure over here and you were treated like a lawyer.”

According to Birmingham City University law lecturer Sarah Cooper, the internships give a “unique and practical” glimpse at the workings of the US justice system.

As a qualified barrister, and ex-intern for former US Supreme Court Clerk, Ms Cooper knows the how invaluable work experience can be.

Earlier this year she was appointed a visiting fellow to the Arizona Justice Project, which examines claims of wrongful convictions, innocence and injustice, and provides legal representation for inmates believed to have been failed by the criminal justice system.

“It’s a steep learning curve and the students have to learn quickly,” she said.

‘‘Just being in close contact with someone of that calibre for such a short space of time can really open doors.’’

That is certainly the case for student Alice Storey, who made such an impression on her placement that she was offered a job at the end of it.

She spent two months working for a small, but busy criminal defence attorney in New York

“I worked on all sorts of cases, from murder and manslaughter through to white collar crime,” said Alice.

“My attorney and I were the perfect match, and it was unbelievable to be offered a job with them as soon as I’ve passed the New York Bar exam.

“I’ve got family in New York, and I have always pictured myself as a New York attorney, so to be offered a job there is a dream come true.”