I am not sure how to respond to this. I have had a new neighbour in our block of flats for about six months. We have become friendly because we both have cats. It's pretty clear there is no romantic interest on either side - we just like cats. Today I find out he was in jail for armed robbery and grevious bodily harm, and his brother is a few years out of jail after a 10 year sentence for attempted murder. He told me these things like "please pass the salt". I had been going to give him my spare keys and ask him to feed my cat while I'm away tonight and tomorrow night, but now I won't. I would prefer to keep him on the periphery and not invite him closer into my world by giving him access to my home. What would you do, or what would you advise your sister to do in my situation? He was 19 when he went to jail and he's mid 30's now and it sounds like that was his only jail experience and he's been working jobs in construction then. He also said once he was a heroin addict as a teenager. He still smokes pot. I have no idea if he's an addict. I don't feel any alarm bells going. I like to keep neighbours at a bit of a distance for privacy reasons especially because our block is so small we are all in each others pockets. We pretty much talk about the cats every day and I play with them a lot.