offender who regards Casemates as home, a court heard this week.

Frank Exell, who got six strokes for stealing when he was 13, has spent much of his life in jail, Magistrates Court was told.

He began yet another sentence this week after admitting a long list of minor cheque frauds and thefts.

His lawyer, Mr. Tim Marshall, failed to get him probation despite a lengthy speech pleading for him to get a final chance to go straight.

Mr. Marshall said 38-year-old Exell has had a tragic life, and is still haunted by the caning.

He had an "awful'' record, but he had been dealt with only by "prison, prison, prison, prison, prison''. No attempt had been made to solve his underlying problems, stemming from abandonment as a child and being forced to fend for himself.

"Regretfully, one of the problems that might exist is that prison has become such an entrenched way of life that as a punishment it is counter-productive,'' Mr. Marshall told Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis.

"He believes that the prison regime has turned out to be a home for him. "He has never seen anybody attempt to take a chance on him, to give him the incentive to leave prison and stick to an honest way of living.

"Nobody, since he was a teenager, has given him a chance.'' Mr. Marshall said the last time Exell came out of prison he became involved in Wellington Baptist church in St. Georges, whose pastor the Rev. John Ramsey was in court.

Church members are still behind him, said Mr. Marshall, despite his most recent offences.

He asked that Exell be given probation with any necessary conditions, like attending church or drug rehabilitation.

But Mr. Francis said probation officers had concluded Exell was not a suitable candidate.

"With a great deal of regret, I have to say that I find there is no other course open to me but to send you to prison for all of these great number of offences.'' He sentenced Exell to two years imprisonment.