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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not feel any sympathy for drug-smuggling women?

592 replies

DarceyBissell · 12/08/2013 17:42

Just that really. Two young women facing 25 years in a Peruvian jail for trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine. Saw they described as 'vulnerable' in one paper. Hardly. Greedy and stupid though.

OP posts:
nkf · 21/08/2013 19:00

I think it's shocking that Peru seems to have to build prisons specifically for foreign drug dealers. That's what this new jail Anco... something seems to be about.

flatwhite · 21/08/2013 19:05

Their story sounds so implausible - surely if you were being threatened you would tell authorities whose job it would be to step in and protect you and your fam etc if they were at risk too.
They boarded a plane in Madrid - they had ample opportunities to tell someone about any ordeal they were experiencing.
It doesn't add up.
I feel sorry for girls if they were stupid enough to really think they would get away with this.. Sheer foolishness and naiitvity and its prob cost them their lives

domesticvoyager · 21/08/2013 19:05

Brona where do you get this information?

Why do you think the girls are at risk of sexual abuse?

Many people are in prison in this country isolated culturally and linguistically.

They will have a bed and everything they need. What they don't have can be supplied to them. They will be with other British, European and US inmates. The conditions are not that bad. They will be able to study, learn skills. It's not a hellhole.

They have had bad conditions in the holding cell, but that is for a very short space of time.

I have worked with detainees here in the UK, held in holding cells all day, in the freezing cold, given no drink or water and refused their medication.

I would imagine they will be fine.

domesticvoyager · 21/08/2013 19:08

nkf shocking because there are so many? Apparently they stopped 354 or so in the past 12 months. I think it's just a wing at the ancona II though, not the whole prison.

I would be more scared to go to prison in the US - much more sensory deprivation. At least in Peru the women mix freely all day and are in the open air.

nkf · 21/08/2013 19:14

They'll probably feel right at home on the drug smugglers' wing. It will be full of young women like themselves. Drug inclined and hopeful enough to think they would get away with this crime.

masirah · 21/08/2013 20:40

Brona, are you currently under the influence of a chemical? No matter what you say, these two are complete bloody idiots. They knew what they were doing, ignored the risks and looked forward to spending the relatively little reward they were to receive. If, as you suggest, they should only receive a 2 year sentence for trying to smuggle 11 kilos, there are a lot of young people out there who would probably think that was a risk worth taking. 2 years if they got caught, a long period of hedonism if they didn't. Wise up Brona.

StephenFrySaidSo · 21/08/2013 20:50

" like you've ever paid for a mistake with thirty years of your life? and not just thirty years, but thirty years in squalor, at risk of abuse, neglect, isolation, loneliness and without decent health care or mental health support."

they'll get 15 years max. reported today on the bbc website.

StephenFrySaidSo · 21/08/2013 20:52

also on the BBC website was a video and interviews with inmates ant ancona 2- the prison where these two will very likely be sent to await trial. might be worth watching brona

nkf · 21/08/2013 20:52

I'm usually in the prisons don't work camp but I would be very surprised if people who end up in a foreign jail for drug smuggling ever do it again. I bet it has a low rate of recidivism.

Br0na · 21/08/2013 20:54

I'm glad to hear it stephenfrysaidso. 15 years in a Peruvian jail is still an extremely harsh punishment.

Br0na · 21/08/2013 20:55

true nkf, I bet five years would have the same effect in this case. I don't think it takes fifteen years to learn from that mistake.

nkf · 21/08/2013 20:57

I'm still amazed that people can think they didn't know what they were doing. I've just talked with my son about this story. He's 15 and pretty unworldly. Even he knew that being asked to carry a package out of Peru meant drug smuggling.

Br0na · 21/08/2013 20:59

Who? what people think they didn't know what they were doing?

I think they are guilty. I think they should be punished. But I guess it boils down to how you feel about punishment. Do you want the punishment to fit the crime or do you want to go that sadistic extra mile. None of us here has much control over it. But personally, I think if they were out within five years they would have learnt a lesson.

nkf · 21/08/2013 20:59

If they're found guilty, they won't serve 15 years in a Peruvian jail. Or the 30 that was banded around.

StephenFrySaidSo · 21/08/2013 21:09

the thing is brona it doesn't matter what you think is the correct punishment- it matters what the punishment is in the country the broke the law in. also- the standards of living in prison don't need to meet UK standards- they need to meet the legal minimum in peru. I really don't know how anyone can argue with that tbh! if they are given access to their legal teams, food, and treatment in accordance with the law in peru then they are getting exactly what they signed up for when they agreed to smuggle drugs out of there. it mightn't be what you would get in the uk but they weren't in the uk when they broke the law- they chose a different country in which to do it and so chose the punishment that country will give them.

masirah · 21/08/2013 21:11

Come on Brona, which is it going to be? 18 months, 2 years or 5 years? Make your mind up. My award would be 8 - 10 years, to be served in the country of offence.

Br0na · 21/08/2013 21:17

yes, and I said that earlier upthread, it doesn't matter what anybody in the UK thinks, they'll be punished according to a different much harsher scale now. But this discussion rumbles on.

If you're the sort of person that sees things in black and white then it's all simple, they knew what they were doing so you've no sympathy. Ok, got that, although, kind of shocked to see how many people feel like that.

I feel sorry for them because they are only twenty and they will spend a long time learning this lesson, a long way from home, publicly humiliated...... and infamous when they do return.

I am not a saint though. I feel no empathy for paedophiles. I would like to see paedophiles punished for longer in harsher jails. So there you go.

nennypops · 21/08/2013 21:18

I totally withhold any form of judgement as all the information we have is third hand and sensationalised stuff coming out in the tabloids. I really hate the fact that papers like the Mail and Express seem to be enjoying themselves so much printing all the most prejudicial information just because they are free of the shackles of a possible contempt of court prosecution. They really seem to be determined to do their utmost to ensure they can't get a fair trial.

nkf · 21/08/2013 21:23

The lack of sympathy isn't because they knew what they were doing is it? It's because the crime is very serious.

StephenFrySaidSo · 21/08/2013 21:23

hang on a minute brona- I have NOT said I have no sympathy for these two. I posted under a different name upthread that I have a massive amount of sympathy- however that doesn't mean I don't support the justice system of that country being followed, just as it would for a Peruvian drug smuggler in the UK- the would not be subjected to harsher punishment just because peru has a harsher system. so these two should not be subjected to a more lenient punishment just because the UK is more lenient.

BlehPukeVomit · 21/08/2013 21:24

As an avid watcher of 'Banged Up Abroad' it seems common for people to agree to carry a small amount of drugs but then be 'duped' or forced into carrying a large amount. 5+KG is a LOT. It's not something people would normally think they could conceal.

We don't know what happened with. These girls and we probably will never know but there is a big grey area between voluntarily carrying the drugs and being coerced into it.

IYSWIM

StephenFrySaidSo · 21/08/2013 21:25

hang on a minute brona- I have NOT said I have no sympathy for these two. I posted under a different name upthread that I have a massive amount of sympathy- however that doesn't mean I don't support the justice system of that country being followed, just as it would for a Peruvian drug smuggler in the UK- the would not be subjected to harsher punishment just because peru has a harsher system. so these two should not be subjected to a more lenient punishment just because the UK is more lenient.

StephenFrySaidSo · 21/08/2013 21:27

publicly humiliated? Hmm

are you for real?

Br0na · 21/08/2013 21:32

I am. Are you?

Do you not think they have been publicly humiliated by this ? It is nothing to be proud of. Most criminals emerge from prison and their faces aren't known, their crimes aren't known to all. This pair do not have that future.

nkf · 21/08/2013 21:33

Presumably each country is allowed to set its own jail terms and administer its own jails for good reasons. If that wasn't the case, maybe the situation would be worse overall. You would see people escaping harsher jail sentences in one country because the place they come from is more lenient. Sex tourism with the abuse of children can happen regularly and openly in some countries because the authorities there don't police it and don't arrest people for it.

I think to spend time in a place like Ibiza probably gives you the idea that the world is one big playground.