No baseball caps, no jean jackets, no camouflage, no sweat pants, no tight clothing, and no jewelry was allowed.

They were told to make a "special effort" to ensure that they were carrying nothing on their person prior to entering through the steel doors.

There was no fooling around. These Wareham High School students were in prison.

Earlier this month, Wareham Police School Resource Officer Karl Baptiste and Wareham High School adjustment counselor Lauren Anthony took a group of students to Cedar Junction in Walpole to participate in a program called "Prison Voices."

Cedar Junction is a maximum security prison housing only men. The students spoke with four of the inmates, and learned about the choices they made that landed them behind bars.

"It's not a 'scared straight' program," Baptiste explained, noting that for this first trip, he and Anthony opted to take honors students and others who are doing well in school. "It's just about making positive choices."

The Wareham Police Association paid to transport the students by bus, and Shooters Restaurant in Middleborough fed the students lunch.

The students met an inmate who was involved in a home break-in at age 17. While the inmate and a friend were inside the house, the homeowner arrived. They ran, and the inmate's friend pushed the homeowner on the way out the door.

"They were bored, had nothing to do, and broke into a house," said Baptiste.

The woman fell, hit her head, and died.

The inmate, who is now in his 40s, was charged with second-degree murder. He's been in prison since the incident.

"He was guilty by association," explained Wareham High School senior Caroline Matta. "And he's in there for life."

The stories were intense, but the students were also surprised by some aspects of prison life.

"I was surprised by how they can work," said Karli Griggs, a senior.

The students met an inmate who works as a barber and another who works as a librarian. They make $1 to $2 per day.

"They can buy their own TVs," said senior Quintin Silveira.

A small, tube TV costs more than $200. But having a TV or a radio can break up the monotony, so the prisoners are willing to work for those luxuries, the students explained.

One of the prisoners said the routine "is the worst thing about it," recalled junior Andy Ring. "It's just the same routine every day."

It was certainly an eye-opening experience, said Anthony, the school's adjustment counselor.

"Everything is a choice," she said. "The adolescent mentality is, they're invincible, and the world revolves around them."

The fact that life can change in an instant is what resonated with the students.

"High-schoolers party and stuff," said Griggs, "but one little slip up can get you in jail."

The students' biggest takeaways?

"To not do stupid things, even if you think it might be fun," said senior Ali Grodon. That's how things went wrong for those inmates, "and it escalated," she explained.

Matta, a basketball player, was impacted by an inmate who explained that he was a star athlete when he was in high school.

"No matter how good you are at basketball and what you do," she said, "you can end up there."

Above all, the visit "just solidified the idea that you don't want to go to prison," Silveira said. "That's just not a place you want to be."

Baptiste and Anthony plan to take at-risk students on the next Prison Voices trip, and hope to do so before the end of the school year.