Over 130 inmates of HMP Thameside in south east London will this month learn about the life of Anne Frank, with a surprising twist: their teachers are fellow prisoners.

Eight prisoners were this week trained by the Anne Frank Trust’s Steve Gadd to lead their peers around an exhibition about the life of Anne Frank in a project that aims to tackle prejudice.

The inmate guides in the category B prison represent a broad range of nationalities and religions.

At the first training session on Monday, the group learned about Anne’s life and death, the Holocaust, genocide and racial hatred.

The guides will show groups of inmates around the exhibition over two weeks, each taking charge of a section. Around 40 prisoners were also expected to attend a talk by Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss.

One guide, Asim Azam, from Pakistan said: “What people will learn will depend on them. I had ancestors who were slaves. To me, this is about everyone.”

The Anne Frank Trust has been running the project since 2002 in over 50 prisons across England and Wales.