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A prisoner called Morris arrived thisa four-year sentence for credit-card fraud Morris has stolen over £500,000 since leaving school, and shows no remorse He tells me with considerable pride that he still has just under £100,000 in cash safely stashed away, and that he and his co-defendant lead ‘the good life’ They share a large flat in London, drive a Mercedes, enjoy a wardrobe full of designer clothes and only stay at the best hotels They fly first class, and work even while on holiday He is a career criminal for whom prison is a temporary inconvenience, and as the authorities always transfer hi sent down, not that much of an inconvenience

Morris has been found guilty of fraud four times in the last ten years, and received sentences of six ht months, twelve months and four years However, he will have served less than three years in all by the time he’s released next January

In 2003, he anticipates that he and his partner will have cleared over a ht, he will be happy

to return to NSC

In Dickens’s time Morris would have been known as ‘a dip’ While the artful dodger stole handkerchiefs and fob watches, Morris purloins credit cards His usuala large weekend conference He then works the bars at night when many of the custoood weekend, he can leave the hotel in possession of a dozen orin first class on a plane to Vienna (one card gone) where he books into a five-star hotel (second card) He then hires a car, not with a credit card, but with cash, because he needs to travel across Europe without being apprehended He will then drive fro to England in a car loaded with goods He and his partner then take a short rest, before repeating the whole exercise

Morris has several pseudonyms, and tells me that he can pick up a false passport for as little as a thousand pounds He intends to spend another ten years rising to the top of his profession before he retires to warmer climes

‘It’s a beautiful way of life,’ he says ‘I can tell you more, Jeffrey’

But I don’t want to hear any more

1145 am

A prisoner coently I explain that he left about an hour ago, and sister is over at the administration block, but he could see the doctor tomorrow He looks anxious, so I ask if I can help

‘I’ve just come back from home leave,’ he explains, ‘and while I was out, I had unprotected sex, and I’d like to check that I haven’t caught anything’

‘Did you know the girl?’ I ask

‘I didn’t know any of them,’ he replies

‘Any of them?’

‘Yes, there were seven’