American man on the run after escaping from notorious Bali prison

Had to read this story again. Hoffman robbed a number of stores at knifepoint and got 20 months. Beasley had 5 grams of hash and could get the death penalty. Indonesia seems to over react to drugs violations. Heroin you could over react to. But 5 grams of hash? On a hippies holiday island?

I'm glad they at least re-caught the real criminal.

This will be interesting. Get a boat, escape the island - but still no passport. What would a US consulate in, say, Cambodia do if he shows up? Anyway - Run, Chrishan, run!

They will protect him obviously, since it is not a comparably punishable offence ... good luck on making it there though

Don't blame him.

To get an idea of how shocking this place is, read Kathryn Bonella's Hotel K. Horrific.

I usually don’t root for a crim on the run.

And this ain’t an exception.

Walk a straight line and you have nothing to fear.

.... usually.

You gotta know the law. And we all know the harsh punishments doled out in such countries for drug related offenses.

Been to bali many times. Locals and police have the usual racket. Its like fishing. But hoffman thats different.

To escape he will have to steal a pssport from someone who looks like him.

@nanda, better chance of that than finding anyone with the same first name.

" Just don't GO there ".

Watch out for authorities who plant "evidence" against ya in exchange for some hush money

Safer in north Korea where it is legal. Not on my bucket list ever. I stay away from corrupt 3rd world playpens.

Not safe for anything

From some of the prison documentaries that I have seen about Bali, Philippines and other third world countries, unless it is a serious offender, most of the prisons are run on an honor system because they simply don't have the resources and man-power to be strict. The women and men prisoners intermingle all the time in some prisons. Many prisoners are feed by allowing the family to visit everyday with meals. People can mostly roam the compound throughout the day. The facilities suck, of course. The biggest challenge for most of the inmates is finding something to past the time.

Gee, what's going to happen if Donald Trump finds out that a bunch of Muslims are hunting down a (not so) good American Citizen ? He'll probably be on Twitter straight away.

If this American is either black or white, he has zero chance of escaping without the help of local accomplices. In all likelihood it will not be long before he is back in his jail cell.

Safer in north Korea where it is legal. Not on my bucket list ever. I stay away from corrupt 3rd world playpens.

Not safe for anything

It's mostly safe as long as your not dumb enough to be doing drugs.

The point of these strict laws is to make sure nobody breaks them.

So you have to be a pretty big idiot or very weak-minded to end up in jail.

I think this story is indirectly talking to its Japanese citizens informing them what will happen if you go to Indonesia and do drugs. a lot of Japanese love doing that kind of stuff when they are out of there home country.

As a geographical region, Southeast Asia represents one of the last strongholds of the enforced prohibition school of thought in the global war on drugs, especially in regards to trafficking. At least five countries in the region have death penalty laws on the books for drug related offenses, Indonesia is one of them.

For the most part, these regional drug policies are driven by a sense of national identity and sovereignty (nationalism), with the addition of political Islam is the cases of Indonesia and Malaysia. For a lot of S.E. Asians, drugs (especially the recent influx of methamphetamine) are seen as a corrosive assault on their national security and on the very fabric of their way of life. Quite commonly, this is viewed as an assault perpetrated by outside influences in service to some nefarious end and they see their drug policies as an appropriate response. I've had the example of China and Opium brought up in a number of conversations with different Indonesians in regards to the threat as they see it.

The catch, is that the concept of basic human rights in these countries does not always jive with what is considered appropriate in much of the western world. And when their policies draw international criticism (especially from the west) it is viewed as outside meddling which only serves to further entrench them in their position. After the international attention given to Indonesia's execution of five foreigners in 2015 the government responded by ramping it up even more. Indonesian cops have now been given the green light to shoot "resisters" and users are now being targeted as hard as the dealers while at the same time the government is reducing its funding of rehabilitation programs. Over 70% of domestic prisoners in Indonesia are in for minor drug possession.

With that being said, sneaking in a couple of grams of buds in your board bag on your next surf trip to Bali is probably not a good idea.

If this American is either black or white, he has zero chance of escaping without the help of local accomplices.

And a whole pile of money. Aiding and abetting is seriously frowned upon in Indonesia. In light of the serious consequences involved any accomplices he might have definitely did not come cheap.