Exclusive Peek into Bali’s Notorious Prison: Inmate Reveals Life on Death Row with British Grandmother

Ever thought about what a grandmother might do when she’s not knitting or baking cookies for the grandkids? Well, in one of Bali’s most notorious prisons, Lindsay Sandiford, a British nan, found herself embroiled in a scenario far removed from ‘The Great British Bake Off’. With £1.6 million worth of cocaine snugly nestled in her suitcase, she’s not just any grandma; she’s Bali’s ‘Cocaine Granny’. Now, if you’re picturing quaint visits from the grandchildren while she’s on death row, you’re in for more tales than you bargained for from inside these formidable prison walls. Here’s an insider’s look into a world where ‘wild sex nights’ and ‘murder’ are part of the daily (!) routine. LEARN MORE.

Ex-inmates of the Bali prison where a British grandmother has spent 12 years on death row shared what it’s like inside.

Lindsay Sandiford has been behind bars at Kerobokan Prison in Indonesia since she was found with £1.6 million worth of cocaine in her suitcase in 2013.

Following the discovery of the 10.16lb of drugs while she travelled through Ngurah Rai International Airport, the now 68-year-old was sentenced to death by firing squad.

Having held her grandchildren for the first time in over a decade when they visited her, Sandiford has earned the nickname ‘grandmother’ at the prison, which is one of the country’s most notorious.

Making up the hundreds of inmates who have been housed there, the British nan has also been joined by many, many other people convicted of drug-related crimes.

Sandiford has spent over a decade on death row. (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years in Kerobokan prison after smuggling 4.2kg of cannabis into Bali in 2005.

The Australian ended up serving nine years there, and has since released a book on her experience she describes as an ‘F***ing nightmare’.

Kathryn Bonella is a true-crime writer and spent time visiting the infamous prison for her book Hotel K.

She wrote about the dark reality of Kerobokan, as she recounted: “Schapelle Corby barely reacted when she found a prisoner hanging by a noose. The Bali Nine’s Scott Rush didn’t hesitate to help guards drag a body from the cell across the path from his cell; the dead inmate was covered in vomit and flies…”

Bonella said she heard of ‘wild sex nights’ where men paid sex workers to enter the prison as the guards would cheer prisoners on to ‘take turns’.

“The men,” she wrote, “share a squat toilet, usually blocked with faeces and stinking out the cell. Poor locals will spend months locked in this cell without being let out once.”

Corby was allowed to return to Aus. (Jason Childs/Getty Images)

Paul Conibeer is a New Zealander who spent time in Kerobokan where he was imprisoned for almost a year after a dispute over an unpaid bill led to his arrest.

Speaking to Campbell Live, he claimed: “I’ve seen people get murdered in there, I’ve seen people get bashed, I’ve seen drug overdoses, one guy died in my arms from sickness.

“You could never kick anything in there—you take two steps forward and you get smashed back 25.

Conibeer also wrote a book, I Survived Kerobokan, about his time in the prison where he claimed: “The water is infected and you get rashes so you get sick every second week.”