Callum: "hit first or get hit"

The case (fictional)

Callum is 28 and is serving five years in a Scottish prison for robbery. In eighteen months he has been involved in seven violent incidents, six against other prisoners and one against an officer. Most followed what he saw as disrespect, such as someone pushing in at the servery or staring at him.

As a child he saw his father beat his mother. He went into foster care at 11, was excluded from school at 14, drank and used cannabis from 13 and was first convicted at 15. "In here, if you don't hit first, you get hit," he says.

Staff notice that the incidents cluster after phone calls with his former partner, who has stopped him having contact with their four-year-old daughter, and in the weeks after he is moved to a new cell. He sleeps badly and denies hearing voices.

In the prison gym he is calm and helpful. He has completed a basic literacy course, and the workshop instructor calls him "the most reliable lad I've got". He trusts his cellmate. He says he wants to be "a dad she can be proud of". He may be considered for parole in about a year.