As a teenager, Brandon MacNeil was told he would be "sent away" from home after he stole his mother's car.

The troubled boy raised in Fraserburgh was a bystander to regular violence from a young age. Brutality was routine and eventually became a characteristic of his own behaviour.

"I've always seen violence," Brandon said. "I've always seen people being abused. I've seen people getting bullied.

"Well me witnessing it all too much, it kind of became part of me."

Now age 21, Brandon is serving a sentence in HM Prison Polmont. For years he had no stability, bouncing between his family home and a local care home, drinking excessively and smoking cannabis with friends.

Around 9% of looked after children in Scotland are in care homes, where staff are often poorly paid and minimally trained.

Brandon was part of a marginal percentage (less than 1%) of young people who are taken into Scotland's care system because of offending behaviour.

"The reason for me being taken into care was I was apparently out of parental control," said Brandon. "My first time in Abbeyfield Lodge was ok for the first week, I would say. Then, when I was actually allowed to go out I went straight back to my pals.

"I was drinking a lot more, I was smoking cannabis a lot more, I was getting more and more into trouble with the police, absconding."

Two days after Brandon and a friend stole the car, he was expelled from secondary school.

He said: "The children's reporter basically said, 'There's nothing else we can do for you, we're going to have to send you away'. I just went proper out of control."

Advances have been made for Scottish children in secure residential care in recent years, particularly through continued support for children up to the age of 25 in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

But Dr Claire Lightowler, director of the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice, warns the care system itself may be responsible for criminalising children.

She said: "We have to acknowledge there are significant failings in terms of the outcomes for looked after children. There are questions about whether the looked after system itself criminalises children in terms of residential care.

"For instance, if our own teenager was to trash their room, we would punish and manage their behaviour but we would be unlikely to call the police. In a residential setting that is something that is sometimes done."

Brandon's experience of residential care was in part a healthy one. He met his first ever mentor, Eddie Hameel, a man who taught him how to cook, wash his clothes and look after his finances.

But Eddie passed away from lung cancer - the first in a series of close bereavements that sent Brandon spinning off the rails once more. Years later, all that Brandon has left of the man he looked up to is the tattoo on his left thumb.

"Eddie was a person that I took to really well," said Brandon. "He told me how to live basically. Eddie helped the boys and was an important person in my life.

"His death definitely contributed to me misbehaving again. He was the first person I ever knew that was close to me that had passed away.

"Then I lost one of my best mates back in 2013, Nicky. Then my uncle and my step-mum unfortunately passed away last year on the same day, which really affected us a lot. It just properly went right downhill from there I suppose."

Brandon now works in the Polmont bicycle shed, mentoring peers alongside prison officer Kenny Cunningham.

In the absence of loved ones, Kenny has filled a role for Brandon as confidant and mentor.

"I like Kenny, I think he's honestly a top man," Brandon said. "The way he speaks to you, he treats you just like you're a normal person out and about on the streets."

The Scottish Prison Service has recently trained staff at Polmont to work with young people who have experienced trauma, bereavement and loss.

Kenny admits "proper training" was not available prior to this, despite the fact that 75% of young men in Polmont had experienced traumatic bereavement which included suicide, murder or overdose last year.

Dr Lightowler runs a service dealing with young people who commit the most serious offences in Scotland, where she found an overwhelming majority (75%) have backgrounds of domestic violence.

She argues that by the time these young people are outwith the grasp of the care system, their futures may already be jeopardised, and that more resources are needed for prevention.

On young offenders serving time at Polmont, she said: "These young men are dealing with a heavy weight of trauma, bereavement, loss in their very direct experiences. We have real issues with the revolving door and real issues with labelling. As soon as you are labelled as bad or troubled or an offender, it's very difficult to step away from that label. It's difficult to get accommodation, it's difficult to get a job, training and education.

"I would never say anyone is a lost cause. But to some extent, by the time they have reached Polmont so many of those issues are so difficult to unpick, I would strongly argue about investing at an earlier stage to prevent them ever causing harm in the first place.

"It's really important to ask why other young people who have experienced trauma, bereavement, loss and abuse do not go on to offend? We know that's about having relationships of love, having one person that believes you are worth a better future."

As for Brandon, time spent in Polmont has cost him years of freedom, but he has also found a new perspective.

On his future he said: "There's a lot going on for me at the moment. Hopefully a good future, definitely no more jail, no more in trouble with the police, stick in get out of here, get a job, hopefully settle down and enjoy life."

You can find out more about Brandon's story and Scotland's "broken" care system by watching the Who Cares documentary on the STV Player, part of the STV Appeal programming series.

If you are concerned about or affected by any of the issues in this article you can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or find more information via their website.