
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003270232
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MANASSAS (AP)                                LENGTH: Medium

CONVICTED ROBBER WRITING BOOK ON HIS WAY OF BANKING

Convicted bank robber George Hughes Sr. spends hours each night crouched in a 2-foot area of light that seeps from the hallway through the bolted door into his isolated cell.

The lights inside the Prince William-Manassas regional jail cells go out about midnight, but Hughes says he squats in the beam with a ballpoint pen and a legal pad until sleep defeats him.

He is writing about his addiction to bank robbery, he says.

"I hope I can make society understand where I came from and what I was doing," Hughes said during a recent interview at the jail.

Hughes, 46, signed a contract with Penmarin Books in February and has written about seven chapters of "Banking My Way: Bank Robbery as a Way of Life," he said.

The book is a wacky account of a bank-robbing career, he said.

"There is a lot of humor in it, but it does have a message."

Before his book contract, Hughes would pass his jail time writing short stories, letters and poetry - most dealing with bank robbery.

Hughes is serving two life sentences and an additional 34 years for bank robberies he committed in Dumfries and Fredericksburg.

He says he committed 80 bank robberies throughout the country starting when he was 20.

He has been neither accused nor convicted of most of the robberies.

"I imagine Morris The Cat will be upset - I might have as many lives as he does by the time I'm done," he wrote in a recent letter. "But you only have one to give."

Hughes' arms are tattooed with various hints of his profession, including the barrel of a .357-caliber Magnum. A tall, lean man, his wrists wriggled beneath the handcuffs while he described his writing through an intercom behind glass in the jail's visitors booth.

"I'm going to tell how I robbed the banks blow by blow," he said hurriedly. "The way I used Super Glue to make scars on my face or how I put cotton in my jaws to change my facial features - it will all be in there."

Meanwhile, Penmarin, a book agent, is negotiating with publishing companies, said Hal Lockwood, president.

If a publishing company decides to buy the book, Hughes could receive about a $15,000 advance on the royalties, Lockwood said.

by CNB