Drug Mule Lindsay Sandiford's Bali Jail Ordeal - Yahoo! News UK
British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford is on death row in Bali, Indonesia, and Sky News is the first UK broadcaster to have been given rare access behind the walls of the notorious prison since her sentencing for drug trafficking.
Kerobokan jail is nicknamed Hotel K by its inmates but it could not be more different from the luxurious resorts just down the road on the holiday island.
Behind its decrepit walls, violence, corruption, drugs and filthy conditions are commonplace.
Sandiford, 57, was sentenced in January to death by firing squad for smuggling more than £1.5m worth of cocaine into Bali.
In a recent photograph, obtained by Sky News, she is seen looking dishevelled in her stifling hot cell.
With a cigarette in her mouth she crouches over what appears to be an article of clothing that she is sewing.
In the background another inmate sleeps on the floor. This overcrowded jail, built for 350 inmates, now houses more than 1,000.
Sandiford did not want to speak to us on camera, but fellow inmate and drug mule Renae Lawrence, who the Brit has befriended, gave a glimpse into how she is managing.
"I think people should already know how she is coping. She doesn't deserve what she got," Lawrence said.
Asked if Sandiford was finding it tough, she replied: "I think anybody would."
Prosecutors recommended Sandiford be given a 15-year prison term but judges disagreed and sentenced her to execution.
Australian Myuran Sukumaran, who was born in west London, is also on death row for smuggling drugs.
Intelligent, softly spoken and full of remorse, he knows his execution could come at any moment.
"You can be strong for a short time, almost invisible, but after a long time stuff just wears you down," he said.
"After eight-and-a -half years it does weigh heavy, especially on our families."
Once a death row prisoner has lost appeals through Indonesia's high court and supreme court, only the president can grant clemency.
If that fails, eventually and without warning, the inmate will be removed from his/her cell in the middle of the night and taken to a remote wooded area, beach or neighbouring island. There he/she will be executed by firing squad.
The last decision a prisoner will make is whether to stand or kneel to be shot.
Former inmate Australian Paul Conibeer, 44, was recently released from the jail after serving a sentence for not paying a hotel bill.
Providing an insight into the bizarre world of Kerobokan prison, he said: "Murderers, rapists, and paedophiles, it's just too crazy."
He added: "You can't have women and men in a prison together. You can't have drugs and alcohol and hookers and all this crazy stuff going on. It's not supposed to happen that way."
Sandiford has lodged a further appeal against her death sentence. She awaits the outcome while sweating it out in Hotel K.
http://uk.news.yahoo. com/drug-mule-lindsay-sandifords-bali-jail-ordeal-020344971.html
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