We decided to feed a starving gay prisoner to keep him alive until donations set him free
This year, donations to Project Not Alone are arriving much more slowly than last year.
Donations are urgently needed to free 10 prisoners, including Sully.
As Project Not Alone 2025 has slowly raised funds aimed at freeing 12 innocent LGBTQ victims of African homophobia, the initiative ran into a new obstacle last month.
In order to be set free, the prisoners need to remain alive.
Erasing 76 Crimes activist journalist Mike Daemon, who manages Project Not Alone in Nigeria, reported that Sully, one of the 12 innocent gay prisonera, was in desperate need of food. Sully had been arrested on homosexuality charges last December when he was unable to pay police a $600 bribe after he was beaten unconscious in a homophobic attack.
Prison conditions in Nigeria are deplorable. Prisoners are forced to endure extreme hunger without any access to healthcare, Daemon told the project team.
He requested a $200 transfer so he could buy a modest amount of food and deliver it to Sully at Port Harcourt Prison. At the time, we had only $566 on hand.
Donations are urgently needed
“It’s crucial for prisoners to have support to survive until donors can provide further assistance”, Daemon said.
In early June, Project Not Alone 2025 had received $1,625 from readers. The project had used the first $1,059 in donations to pay the fines and related expenses for Fleur and Wanda, two lesbians who had been imprisoned in Bertoua, Cameroon, for nearly eight months on homosexuality charges. Because of readers’ support for the project, the two women were set free on May 26.
Out of the remaining $566, we decided to pay the $200 for food for Sully, who is facing the prospect of three to 14 years in prison under Nigerian law.
“Obviously we can’t let a prisoner starve to death while we’re awaiting reader donations”, said Jean Jacques Dissoke, the activist/journalist who manages Project Not Alone in Cameroon — and who advocates for the project’s Cameroonian prisoners.
In Nigeria, the conditions in many prisons are deeply troubling, Daemon observed. Inmates are often fed poorly prepared meals, sometimes only once a day, and even that is barely enough due to strict rationing. Access to clean drinking water is another serious concern — most rely on untreated tap water, while only those who can afford it manage to get sachet water (sanitized water sold in plastic sacks), arranged unofficially through prison wardens, Daemon said.
Occasionally, religious organizations like churches step in to provide food or clothing, but such support is rare and unpredictable. In fact, for several months now, no such assistance has come through at Port Harcourt Prison. Many inmates are starving—including Sully, who had become visibly emaciated. His health was deteriorating; he appeared extremely frail and was suffering from a skin infection caused by the filthy mattress he sleeps on and constant exposure to insects and bugs.
With the money from Project Not Alone, Daemon and an attorney who assisted him purchased US $69 worth of food and hygiene supplies for Sully. (Sully’s crisis came at a time when Daemon was in the midst of moving, so help was needed if the food was to reach Sully without delay.) Port Harcourt Maximum Security Correctional Centre is on the outskirts of the city and transportation is expensive, even via the Bolt ride-sharing app — $40 for Daemon, $50 for the lawyer. Each had to pay a $10 admission fee to get into the prison to deliver the food.
After delivering the groceries, Daemon reported that Sully is deeply grateful for the food support, but he remains visibly distressed about his future. His voice trembled as he spoke, a mixture of despair and gratitude. So far, Project Not Alone hasn’t received enough donations to pay the fines to set set Sully and nine other prisoners free.
“Mr. Mike, are you sure you can help me? I pray every day for freedom, but it feels so far away. Still, I truly appreciate everything you’ve done for me—even just visiting. May God reward you for your kindness. Thank you so much.”
For whatever reason, donations to this year’s project have been much slower than last year, when the fund drive surpassed its goal in a week. In 2024, the project fed and freed 10 innocent prisoners after raising $9,447. In 2025, we aim to feed and free 12 innocent prisoners; the fund-raising goal is $12,861.
So far, readers have donated $2,999.
Project Not Alone is a program of the non-profit St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation and its Erasing 76 Crimes news site. U.S. tax-deductible donations to Project Not Alone 2025 may be made via:
- PayPal
- GoFundMe
- SpotFund
- Alternatively, you could send a check to St. Paul’s Foundation, 5517 Paseo del Lago East Unit 1B, Laguna Woods CA 92637 USA. Please write “Project Not Alone” on the memo line and send an email to info@76crimes.com to let us know it’s coming.
