Locked Up Abroad

I haven’t seen the episodes in Korea and Taiwan, just the ones in Central/​South America. My brother introduced this series to me with the one at Columbia or Peru. The resemblance of the actors to the convicted is pretty good. The lesson is usually to never agree to be a drug mule. The ones telling the story probably had their family help them escape the country.

Hasn’t any one of the people featured on «Locked Up Abroad» on the National Geographic Channel (NGC, DirecTV 276) ever watched «Midnight Express» made in 1978 starring Brad Davis (
)? «Midnight Express» affected my generation quite a bit when I was in college… What not to do when you’re in a foreign country. You’ve heard the spiel that your parents gave you when you first went abroad… «Obey the Law», «Laws are different over there…», «They don’t like Americans…», blah, blah, blah. Now, parents, you can have your kids watch «Locked Up Abroad» for a more up-​to-​date view on differences between the legal and prison systems of various countries.
For more abroad in prison videos, try «Brokedown Palace» with Claire Danes and Kate Bekinsale (
) or «Return to Paradise» with Vince Vaughan and Ann Heche (
). «Brokedown Palace» definitely had an effect on my daughter, Kathy when she was in middle school.
There is one episode from this series that shouldn’t be included at all: «Colombia». This episode should be placed in the «Kidnapped Abroad» series. This series should highlight foreigners caught breaking the law, tried, and imprisoned by an established government. The «Colombia» episode featured an American kidnapped by anti-​government rebel forces within the country.
With the exception of the «Colombia» episode the rest of the series follows this script: Foreigners in another country, some need financial help, con-​men recognizes their vulnerability and convinces foreigner to smuggle contraband (usually drugs), gets caught by Customs, goes through legal system of said country, gets convicted of crime, display of incarceration conditions and efforts of appeal by government of convicted person, and if applicable what happened to person after release. If you watched «Brokedown Palace», that film would be the prototype for the entire series.
The producers of «Locked Up Abroad» faces the same obstacle as did the producers of «Midnight Express»… casting a light of sympathy on a person that has broken the law. The producers do not in any of the episodes criticize the legal or prison systems of the countries where the personalities are locked up… they’re pretty even-​handed in that respect. But the featured prisoners do make comments on the lack of space and the cleanliness of the facilities, though.
As Claire and Kate in «Brokedown Palace», all the characters in «Locked Up Abroad» are naïve, basically «nice» people, who otherwise «wouldn’t hurt a fly» sorts who just got caught up in desperate straits and made a stupid mistake in judgment. Most of the episodes are of the protaganists smuggling illegal drugs.
Unlike Billy in «Midnight Express» who escapes captivity from Turkey, most of the foreigners featured «Locked Up Abroad» receive their just desserts… a prison sentence. Some of the episodes show the former offenders after their fulfillment of sentences back in their home country… but most are still in jail abroad.
The producers do highlight some of the positive aspects of the legal system in a foreign country… the example of a lawyer visiting the prisoner regularly, bringing food, money, messages from home. That was one nice touch for those locked up.
I’ve commented on «Dogs with Jobs» (
), also on NGC, as a Canadian production in my review of that series… «Locked Up Abroad» seems a little harsher in tone, not as nice; more of a Western European production… maybe German or English in origin.
I loved the Thailand episode where the Englishwoman is contemplating in prison saying to herself… «But, I’m a British Citizen!».
Typical, typical.
«Locked Up Abroad» is currently scheduled on Mondays @ 9pm.