The Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith

Furnace is about a boy who is framed for the murder of his best friend. It all starts with the boy (who is called Alex) starting to steal from people. The first victim of this is a boy whose dad is very rich and gives him 20 quid for lunch and this keeps going on and on until reality catches up with him and he is sent to a prison called Furnace. The boy, as bright as he is, finds a gap in a boarded up room and he plans a way to escape by blowing up gloves with a flammable gas and he blows a hole and well you will just have to read the book and find out what happens.