"Norman Stanley Fletcher... you are an habitual criminal who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and presumably accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner..."

'Fletch', sentenced to a five year stretch at HM Prison Slade in darkest Cumbria, is determined to keep his head down, do his time and not let the b******s grind him down. But it's not so simple when you're an old lag. His naive cell-mate Lenny Godber needs to learn the ropes, skives and scams; evil Prison Officer Mr Mackay can't be allowed to run things his own way and warden Mr Barrowclough is just too weak-willed not to have his good-nature exploited...