MIRROR Online: LONDON, England, By Anthony Thrower – The hell jail which has held a British gran for nearly a decade as she awaits a date with a firing squad is one of the toughest in Indonesia and the site of several deadly riots.
Lindsay Sandiford has been locked up in Kerobokan Prison in Bali since 2013 when she was found with £1.6million of cocaine in her suitcase.
Drug smugglers in the country face severe penalties and around 80 percent of the prison’s population are inside on drug charges.
The majority are waiting to be put to death – including the grandmother whose final wish is just to die.
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Kerobokan is one of Indonesia’s most notorious prisons – ABC News
The Bali jail is one of the most notorious and prisoners are forced to live in close quarters as it currently has more than 1,000 more than the 357 it was built for in 1979.
Because of its cramped and nightmare conditions there have been several breakouts, with many successful.
Four escaped in 2017 – four years into Sandiford’s long wait for death – by digigng a tunnel under the walls from a courtyard.
The prison is vastly over populated – ABC News
Eighteen years earlier in 1999 hundreds got out when prisoners set fire to mattresses and quickly overwhelmed the guards as they attempted to put it out.
It has also been reported prisoners bribe guards to bring them drugs or allow them out for brief trips.
Indonesia carries out executions infrequently with most prisoners waiting on death row for more than 10 years.
Sandiford being led by Indonesian custom officers in 2012 – Evening Gazette
The last death penalties carried out in Indonesia took place in 2015 and 130 people, including Lindsay Sandiford, are waiting to be executed.
The punishment in Indonesia is brutal and the execution method is terrifying, as they are led out to a waiting firing squad.
Prisoners can choose to sit or stand before armed soldiers take their shots, aiming for the heart.
Armed guards in the prison yard – Getty Images
But if a prisoner survives the commander shoots them in the head.
It was as Sandiford arrived in Bali from Bangkok in Thailand on May 19, 2012, that she was arrested after the huge haul of cocaine was found in her luggage.
The gran insisted she had been forced to carry the Class A drugs by a criminal gang, who had threatened to hurt her family if she refused.
The majority of prisoners inside are on drug charges – ABC News
However, she dramatically changed her story when she was told she would receive the death penalty if she was convicted of drug trafficking.
She broke down and told officers she had been asked to carry the drugs by an antiques dealer, Julian Ponder, who was British and living in Bali, and his partner Rachel Dougall.
Sandiford even agreed to take part in a police sting to catch the pair, along with a third person, Paul Beales.
A large number of jail breaks have been made form the prison – ABC News
Ponder’s home was searched and both he and Sandiford were charged with drug trafficking.
Top Feature Photo: British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford is on death row in Indonesia for smuggling drugs – AFP/Getty Images
