How long was billy hayes in jail

The worst of it was that he felt as if he'd consigned his own family to five years in prison though his brother has thanked him for setting such a low bar that "unless we kill someone on television, we're golden". I grew up.

He has given a lot of talks to high school and college students, and his key advice is this: "Do what you like — and know what you're doing. Take responsibility for your actions because you have to live with the consequences. A passionate advocate of drug legalisation, Hayes has no sense of guilt about his exploits. I'm from the '60s, I don't think people should be arrested for it.

Don't put people in jail — teach your kids about it. In the film, as in his book, he gets caught at his first attempt at smuggling. In reality, it was his fourth trip. When he told his lawyer he planned to write about the other trips, he says the lawyer had just one question: "Are you out of your fing mind?

It hurts. I'm broke. Hayes: 5 Years In Prison. View on timesmachine. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. During the time he was in jail, he was visited frequently by our consular officers from Istanbul. They never reported that he was physically mistreated except for a beating his first night in jail. I think that they would probably have known or noticed if anything more had happened. When Hayes got back to the U. He was approached by a freelance writer [William Hoffer] and offered a way to earn back some of the money that had been wasted on trying to get him released.

I have read it; it is not bad, but Billy Hayes admitted that the book was slightly exaggerated and dramatized. In the book he alleged that when he was first apprehended, he was beaten. He did not allege other beatings. When the movie was made, it included not only brutal treatment — there is a particularly savage scene in the movie when the young American bites the lip of a Turkish prison official who was abusing him.

It was not alleged in the book and I never saw any reports that even hinted at such a possibility. Our Istanbul staff was very sympathetic towards Billy Hayes. Furthermore, DEA was not interested in tracking down individual young American hashish smugglers abroad.

It was interested in large operations which would eventually impinge on drug imports into the U. But both the book and the movie were very damaging to U. Americans, as with most people, are only too willing to blame foreigners for their problems. Yesterday, Mr.

Jail made me more aware of myself—I read a lot and I thought a lot. It was stupid of me to have carried the hash hut it seemed like the thing to do at the time often do things on impulse, you know. As he spoke, his blue eyes glinting in the lights of the television crews in the airport lounge, the young man's father watched quietly. Hayes said later. Then he draped his arms around his son and escorted him to a waiting car that would transport them to their North Babylon home.

Escapee From Turkey Describes Return. See the article in its original context from October 25, , Page 30 Buy Reprints.