LOCKED UP ABROAD

Every year approximately 2,500 Americans either through poor decisions or bad luck are imprisoned in foreign jails. The legal system in many countries is often very corrupt and getting in touch with the American embassy to get a lawyer may take weeks; very often suspects are held without being charged for months or years.  Without access to a translator or lawyer, many times the suspect is forced into signing an admission of guilt written in a language they neither know nor understand.  The death penalty and very harsh sentences of 20 years or more are often the consequence of smuggling drugs, regardless if the person was aware drugs were planted on them.

Once the suspect is found guilty, life inside the prison does not get much better. Overcrowding, disease, violence, malnutrition and filthy living conditions are what the prisoner is left to face. Corrupt security guards; fights between inmates and lack of proper medical care leave many inmates with illness and despair.  Many times communication with family members and the outside world is severely restricted and in many jails, prisoners are expected to pay for their own cells and food.