Midnight Express (book)

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Midnight Express is a 1977 book by Billy Hayes, a young American who was sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey to the US.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Synopsis

On October 6, 1970, after a stay in Istanbul, an American citizen, named Billy Hayes, is arrested by the wary Turkish police as he is about to leave the country by plane, after being found with several packets of hashish, about two kilograms total, taped to his body. He's sentenced to an "exemplary" three years and two months imprisonment. In the remand centre, he meets and befriends other western prisoners and quickly prepares an escape plan, which fails. But in 1974, his sentence turns into a 30-year life term imposed by the Turkish High Court in Ankara. His stay becomes a living hell: terrifying and unbearable scenes of physical and mental torture follow one another, where bribery, violence and insanity rule the prison. Monstrous wardens cruelly force the prisoners to undergo the worst brutalities. Some work for the prison administration as "informers." Ultimately, Hayes is moved to another prison from which he escapes by sea.

[edit] Adaptation

The book was adapted to film in 1978. The film Midnight Express departed significantly from the book in several ways, especially its treatment of the Turkish people; see the film article for details and reactions.