Heaven

DAY 386 THURSDAY 8 AUGUST 2002

8.00 am

Some wit has pinned up on the notice board outside the stores, ‘If it fits, hand it back.’

It seems that over twenty pads (cells) have been broken into during the past two weeks, and more than two hundred phonecards have been stolen. The old lags tell me that it has to be a crack-head if he was desperate enough to break into the hospital. By the end of the week, the thief has broken into the chapel and the canteen (shop).

Some inmates are claiming they know the culprit.

6.00 pm

A prisoner who recently arrived from Highpoint says he’s going to beat me up before he’s released. This threat was made during my morning rounds in front of a group of his mates. He must be around thirty and is in for GBH.

I confess to feeling frightened for the first time in months.