So after much though I have decided to leave my comfort zone for a bit to talk about people who I have encountered and perhaps made friends with at some point in my life.

Today I am featuring Paul (Not his real name) as part of my chronicles. Given that we met under very odd circumstances and shared the same space for more than a month while I was still in custody at Brixton prison back in 2012, I reckon it may make this story a little more interesting.

To avoid going too much into the context of how we both met, I will briefly mention that during the time I was locked up, I felt so bored at various times in my life. In a big way thanks to people such as Marina (my girlfriend at the time) my sister and my aunt as well as Paul that I found motivation to get by during that difficult period.

I had a very different idea of what prison life was like until I was sentenced and locked for what to me felt like years but in reality it was under 6 months only. Then after that, I had to spend some time under home detention and so on and so forth…

Once I was downgraded to serve time at a low category prison, as the internal authorities had determined that I was finally a low risk prisoner, I was transferred to Brixton in South London.

Myself and two friends of mine were moved to this new place we had no idea about. All we knew was that Brixton was not at all under the ‘category D’ conditions we so much expected to live under.

‘Category D’ just means that you can walk much more freely and leave the prison during the week to work; plus go and visit family on the weekends. In other words, you are almost done with your sentence at that point…

I don’t quite remember how and when I met up with Paul. Oh yeah, actually, I do. It was on my landing. He was chatting to a Colombian inmate in Spanish which was pretty unusual. I came up to them and kind of butted into the conversation. From there on I started hanging out with Paul more.

Paul had been sentenced to serve a 20 years plus custodial sentence (life without parole ) for drug smuggling. The judge determined that he was guilty of dealing LSD and stuff like that, a crime he never committed according to him.

In fact, he was a drug smuggler, though marijuana and hashish were his speciality. Actually, he sounded very proud of his profession, whenever he narrated stories on how he would pass the shipment from country to country, continent to continent, provider to provider.

He travelled across the seas, he was a seaman, he was untouchable. 
Paul knew the entire geography of Asia and Africa pretty damn well. 
At first I thought he was just another prisoner who loved to brag and exaggerate about his alleged knowledge but I soon understood that he was much more knowledgeable than I imagined.

On the topic of Latin America and the drug trade he did not know so much as he was not a cocaine smuggler but he damn well knew many things about certain areas. I believe he travelled there a few times but never for work-related matters, solely to get to know the culture and the territory.

When he talked about his travels across the African continent he knew the routes across Nigeria, Ghana etc. These are places he frequented. 
The same goes for Asia, such countries as India, Bangladesh, Turkey. He was well aware of how to go about his business and get away with it…

According to Paul, he was arrested after someone snitched on him and was blamed for something he never did. He decided to keep his head down and serve his time, leaving a wife and kids behind for a very long time…

He was sent to many prison facilities across the country, and spent some stretches in solitary confident for ‘misconduct’. I prefer to call it, for defending himself from the bully screws…

During his incarceration period, Paul studies 2 degrees at the Open University. The first one in Psychology ( I cannot remember the second subject I am afraid ) and an M.A. in Criminology.

At his release he was set to start a PhD, furthering his studies in Criminology but I am not one hundred percent certain he did do it as I lost track of his academic progress…

So, during our time in prison we talked about Latin America quite a bit. My usual subject to discuss was the war on drugs in Mexico, El Chapo Guzman and cultural differences between the UK and Mexico.

He was usually so interested in discussing things in depth that my head would spin and break into pieces. I could not keep up with his brain capacity to store ideas and elaborate on topics to the maximum possible detail.

I once lent him a book I was given by a friend about the Latin American Independence. Sadly I never bothered reading it as it was so think and long. Instead, I read several other books like Cocaine Politics by Peter Dale Scott, Los Señores del Narco for the second time by Anabel Hernández. Several books I was sent written by Julio Scherer like El Indio que mató al Padre Pro. Camisas Azules, Manos Negras by Ana Lilia Pérez, etc. etc. the list goes on…

Well, Paul devoured the book I lent to him in a matter of weeks and a new excuse for a conversation begun. Talking about the war on liberation of the southern countries in America; Simon Bolivar etc…

We would also kill the clock by playing scrabble, what an awesome game that is! A useful time-killer if you are ever bored and want to learn more about a language. I learned so many new words thanks to that game and became much better at spelling even if it is not reflected in my stories…

Moving on, I did end up meeting Paul a few times unlike other people I met inside who were keen to meet again outside but never did.

I visited Paul a few times at his home outside London. During our encounters, we drank tea and ate biscuits whilst we exchanged a few memories of our prison time. We joked an awful lot as he is a very sarcastic man, not surprisingly since he is a Liverpudlian after all.

Today I can say that we forged a good relationship and we keep in touch at the distance on a casual basis. It is nice to know that after all the people I met in prison only a handful of them stay in touch at least…