Henry Driver, prisoner #A-9161, is also a life long “good guy” and clearly innocent of the crime of murder, is suddenly released from prison; he immediately goes home to a frighteningly cool reception; suspicious already that his family was involved in the crimes for which he is serving time, he is told the release was a “clerical mistake” and that he must then return to prison. He finally puts his foot down and takes matters into his own hands. He’s been “pushed around” his whole life and he’s not going to take it anymore. He snatches the warden’s pistol out of his hand and takes a number of hostages into the main block with him, but he soon discovers that his “hostages” do not scare easily. The majority of them have psychiatric problems and believe the hostage taking is a game. To compound matters, a number of “needy” people in the surrounding community hear rumors about the crisis and believing him to be some sort of heroic or messianic figure, flock to the jail to support him. The warden, facing a very tight race for mayor, is trying meanwhile to keep the crisis a secret. Unable to control the situation, he slowly starts to go mad. Meanwhile, Driver’s family, having committed the egregious crimes for which he has been blamed, are preparing to get into the jail and kill him. They try. And so do several others. The warden must make a move before the situation blows wide open. What results is a grand climax in which the prisoners [i.e., hostages] decide together to bust out while the warden’s thugs decide to bust in.