Lindsay Sandiford: Inside British grandmother’s Bali prison as she awaits execution by firing squad
Teesside woman has spent nearly a decade on death row in the notorious Kerobokan prison
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A British grandmother is waiting to be executed in a Bali jail.
Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 by an Indonesian court for trafficking cocaine and faces death by firing squad.
The 65-year-old from Teesside is being held in the Kerobokan prison on the tourist-packed island of Bali.
Kerobokan is one of Indonesia's most notorious prisons and holds around 1,000 more inmates than the 357 it was built for in 1979.
ABC News said in a 2017 report from inside Kerobokan that almost 80 per cent of its prisoners are in on drug charges.
At the time of Sandiford’s arrest, there were 90 prisoners awaiting execution in Kerobokan.
Drug laws in Indonesia are extremely strict – about half of the country's prisoners are drug offenders – and traffickers are dealt with brutally.
The government in Jakarta found itself in a diplomatic crisis in 2015 when two Australians convicted as part of a heroin smuggling squad were executed by firing squad.
Indonesia is in a minority of countries to retain the death penalty in law.
Twelve foreigners were executed in 2015 in total, all on drug charges.
Sandiford has been on death row for years and efforts by the British state to intervene have failed.
A date for her execution has not been set.
She has repeatedly insisted she was manipulated and used as a mule to transport the cocaine as a means to protect her sons, aged 22 and 24.
She launched an appeal to have her sentence reduced but it was rejected, as the majority of appeals for drug offences are.
Her holding place has a reputation as one of Indonesia's toughest prisons.
Kerobokan has seen several riots in the past decade alone, some of them deadly.
The New York Times reported that staff are bribed by wealthier inmates to give them drugs and even let them out on trips.
And despite Kerobokan being a high-security prison, breakouts are not unheard of.
Four foreign inmates made their escape in 2017 by digging a 50ft tunnel under the prison walls from an open courtyard.
The prison saw another major breakout in 1999 in which prisoners set fire to their mattresses and overwhelmed the guards trying to contain the flames. Almost 300 prisoners escaped.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments