I had my prison epiphany on January 5, 2009, when I realised what the name of my mother’s last cat meant. I asked her about it many times when she was alive, but she just laughed. Well, Mum, I know now. The cat had the strange name of Chapitucho, which belonged to no language I knew. But with help from my Spanish teacher Suzy, and the Romany guys at HM Prison Lowdham Grange, I discovered where it had come from. Chapi is the Romany word meaning “great”, and -ucho is a cod Portuguese version of the Italian diminutive -uccio, meaning…