He handed it to Jane. “You girls should take
care of yourselves. I will keep in touch.” He
bade them farewell and walked out of the
room. He looked forward to seeing Brenda
again. * * * Lupe Prison was situated at an
isolated area of town. It had a very large
compound with a great wall. People dreaded
being associated with Lupe Prison, not just
because of the general impression most
people had about prisons, but because of
harsh stories told about this particular prison.
The death rate for inmates in this prison was
very high mainly due to the harsh conditions
inmates faced; here the convicts really paid
the prize for the crimes they committed.
Most prisoners who successfully completed
their tenure in this prison always prayed that
nothing ever took them back there. This was
where Nimrod James had been for the past
four years. A five-feet-nine-inches-tall fellow
with muscular physique and mean-looking
eyes, Nimrod hated this prison with all his
might. He couldn‟t wait to be free once again;
to have the freedom to do whatever he liked
whenever he wanted. His body system had
never adjusted to the life in the prison despite
having stayed there for four years. He
couldn‟t stop praying to God, if there was one,
that time should fly so that he would be free
once again. Here he was treated like s--t by
the prison warders. He was made to eat
rubbish and subjected to hard labor every day.


Every little offence one did always resulted in
severe punishment here. Suffering that could
never be compared to the offence. “Nimrod
James!” “Who the hell wants to know?” “Your
god in here!” Now what?

He was chained before stepping out of his
small cell when it was unlocked, but before he
could react, a baton came crashing down on
his head. “What the f***?” “That?” screamed
Curtis, the prison guard on duty. “That
doesn‟t even compare to what you have just
done! Now move it!” And he was pushed
forward, jeers ringing out from the other cells
as the stoic guards fell in step behind him.

Everyone knew about his exploits in Lupe, but
then nobody liked getting into trouble when
Curtis was on duty! The group stopped before
another cell and Nimrod flinched. The prisoner
within had cowered to the far corner of the
small room when he saw them and Nimrod
knew he had every reason to be afraid, yet he
still tried to wriggle his way out of the trouble
he now knew he was in. “So what have I done
now?”

Another baton crashed into his back and he
doubled over. “Is he the one?” Curtis asked the
terrified man inside and thought he saw a
flicker of a nod. That was all he needed.

“C‟mon James…you‟ve got a date with the
sun!” “But – But I didn‟t do nothing wrong!”
he tried again. “You fag…!” shouted Curtis,
kicking him with vehemence. “No one is your
girl in here!” “Wait till I‟m through with this,
Sean…,” snarled his victim as he was being
pushed away. “Wait till I get my hands on you
after this…!” And the young man inside the
cell cringed back the more. “You‟ll do no such
thing, homo!” bellowed a second guard. “Your
new cellmate will be Sean and a camera will
be fixed on you from now on 24/7!” “What?”
Daylight almost blinded him when he was
pushed out into the open and he tried to
shield his eyes with his chained hands.

The interior was always dimly lit and his
discomfort was a direct result of this. A
terrible push saw him crashing to the ground
and the guards on duty all around him erupted
in laughter. “Hey…What – What the hell you
doing, man?” he asked Curtis as the no-
nonsense warder proceeded to rip his
standard issue prison clothes apart with a
razorblade. “What the hell you think you‟re
doing?” “Putting you back in line, big boy!

Now, get up!”

Nimrod Effiong Bassey James had to spend
his remaining free time that day under the
sweltering heat of the angry sun with nothing
on and in the glaring presence of everyone
he‟d come to hate in Lupe Prison.