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10 Kilos Of Cocaine - How I survived 4 Years in the Toughest Women's Prison in the World
The unbelievable, true story of one woman’s survival in Mira Flores Prison – the cruelest women’s prison in the world.
When she was just 20 years old, Sharon Yitzhaky traveled to Bolivia with a partner she barely knew, but soon found herself framed in a complicated drug smuggling scandal for attempting to smuggle 10 kilos of cocaine.
Her sentence was harsh, and she was sent for five years to Mira Flores Prison, known as the toughest in the world. With no means and no knowledge of the local language, she was thrown into a horrific reality where she knew she would have to survive against all odds.
10 Kilos of Cocaine is the unbelievable true story about unbearable life in prison, the special ties Sharon cultivated with the head of the La Paz drug cartel and the judge appointed to her case, the drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation, and the soul sister she met in the harshest place on earth.
He memoir is a thriller in every sense of the word, but also a testimony of the incredible strength of the human spirit.
When she was just 20 years old, Sharon Yitzhaky traveled to Bolivia with a partner she barely knew, but soon found herself framed in a complicated drug smuggling scandal for attempting to smuggle 10 kilos of cocaine.
Her sentence was harsh, and she was sent for five years to Mira Flores Prison, known as the toughest in the world. With no means and no knowledge of the local language, she was thrown into a horrific reality where she knew she would have to survive against all odds.
10 Kilos of Cocaine is the unbelievable true story about unbearable life in prison, the special ties Sharon cultivated with the head of the La Paz drug cartel and the judge appointed to her case, the drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation, and the soul sister she met in the harshest place on earth.
He memoir is a thriller in every sense of the word, but also a testimony of the incredible strength of the human spirit.
257 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2022
102 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 26, 2022
A lady names Sahasa was waiting for her boyfriend. She ended up getting arrest after being scanned at the airport. She was charged with hiding 10 kilos of cocaine in the suitcases she was carrying - unknown to her , put there by her boyfriend who wasnt anywhere around. She goes to prison for a long time. The story does not sound like she had a rough time in prison . As she slept with guys while there, got special privileges , prisoners had parties and drank and got drunk and danced , ladies had their children with them and so on. She got conned by another inmate at first. Fell in love and had sex with 2 men Alberto and Niki actually a guy but pretended to be a girl, while there. She did go thru some rough times at first . Sounded like alot of the girls didnt want to leave their real friends when it was time to leave. Scenes are in Bolivia and South America.
January 24, 2022
This reads more like fiction than fact. If it was the toughest prison in the world, (Bolivia) then she managed to cope, sleeping with her lawyer and anyone who tickled her fancy, including a drug lord who was also in prison. She didn't fully acknowledge or seem to grasp her culpability in the crime (trafficking). Her parents kept her in money. She did 'adopt' a baby another prisoner had given birth to and raised it for the period of time she was in prison. She also managed to get out of the country with a false identity.
May 23, 2022
DNF
Too much her pretending to be a victim, but all the while making a point to reiterate how beautiful she is. She's in the worst prison? Its run like a boarding house... and she's in her 20s and is very detailed about her affair with a 16 year old, which is really the point I stopped reading.
Too much her pretending to be a victim, but all the while making a point to reiterate how beautiful she is. She's in the worst prison? Its run like a boarding house... and she's in her 20s and is very detailed about her affair with a 16 year old, which is really the point I stopped reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2022
The story has potential but unfortunately terribly written. Messy narrative, misusage/lack of/misplaced punctuation, typos, often disconnected passages. I had to go through some paragraphs over and over to find the connection at certain moments, which made me unbelievably annoyed.
February 15, 2022
Candid personal story
If you have to be in prison, a woman's prison in Bolivia sounds surprisingly decent. A mother being allowed to care for a children while in prison might do wonders to better rehab our own prisons....
If you have to be in prison, a woman's prison in Bolivia sounds surprisingly decent. A mother being allowed to care for a children while in prison might do wonders to better rehab our own prisons....
February 20, 2022
Not what I expected, but very compelling
Based on the title and cover photo, thoughts of Midnight Express came to mind. I felt like I was part of Shasha’s experience. I experienced the hope, disappointment, anxiety, and all the highs and lows of her profound journey.
Based on the title and cover photo, thoughts of Midnight Express came to mind. I felt like I was part of Shasha’s experience. I experienced the hope, disappointment, anxiety, and all the highs and lows of her profound journey.
August 12, 2025
over exaggerated
This is a very good story, but how much of it exaggerated?
The author seems to go through relationships so quickly.
It’s also confusing at times when she is describing conversations but you aren’t sure who is actually talking.
This is a very good story, but how much of it exaggerated?
The author seems to go through relationships so quickly.
It’s also confusing at times when she is describing conversations but you aren’t sure who is actually talking.
November 19, 2025
Insider prison memoir
A good but repetitive prisoners memoir. I find this subject so interesting especially reading about prisons in different countries so I continued reading & enjoyed the different people we met throughout the book.
A good but repetitive prisoners memoir. I find this subject so interesting especially reading about prisons in different countries so I continued reading & enjoyed the different people we met throughout the book.
October 17, 2022
True heart felt memoir
Wonder full heart felt memoir that really does give all the grit and grime from Sharon's journey.
Honesty at its opembhert best
Wonder full heart felt memoir that really does give all the grit and grime from Sharon's journey.
Honesty at its opembhert best
February 23, 2025
Good read
November 10, 2021
‘Everybody here knows you; we have seen you on TV’ – a prison life perspective
Israeli author Sharon Yitzhaki is currently studying writing and screenwriting at Minshar School of Arts. Born in Jerusalem, she move to Tel Aviv at age sixteen, became involved with Punk culture, moved to Amsterdam, fell in love, and traveled to South America – the setting of this memoir. 10 KILOS OF COCAINE was first published in 2006 in Hebrew and Sharon now offers it to the English reading public. The beautiful author shares images of her complexly tattooed body on the Amazon site and on the cover of her book.
Sharon plunges the reader into the breathless pace of the memoir as the book opens – ‘Where the hell is Ronny? He’s been gone for over a day. I paced nervously, cooped up in a dinky hotel in La Paz, clueless as to what’s next... Where should I look? Whom should I talk to and in what language? My heart was beating so hard it almost tore my chest open. Was he kidnapped? Murdered? Or did he just go off with some skanky Bolivian girl? The sixth Valium started kicking in and I was getting blurry…’ Sharon uses this immediacy of language to relate her true story of her incarceration in Bolivia.
Briefly, the memoir covers the following – ‘When she was just 20 years old, Sharon Yitzhaky traveled to Bolivia with a partner she barely knew, but soon found herself framed in a complicated drug smuggling scandal for attempting to smuggle 10 kilos of cocaine. Her sentence was harsh, and she was sent for five years to Mira Flores Prison, known as the toughest in the world. With no means and no knowledge of the local language, she was thrown into a horrific reality where she knew she would have to survive against all odds.10 Kilos of Cocaine is the unbelievable true story about unbearable life in prison, the special ties Sharon cultivated with the head of the La Paz drug cartel and the judge appointed to her case, the drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation, and the soul sister she met in the harshest place on earth. Her memoir is a thriller in every sense of the word, but also a testimony of the incredible strength of the human spirit.’
While other books about prison life are grim, Sharon closes her memoir with a positive note: ‘Today, as strange as it sounds, I thank my fate that got me there and gave me the opportunity to know myself and shed so many superfluous layers…I would not trade his school of life for anything.’ The next step for Sharon – consider a screenplay of this memoir!
Israeli author Sharon Yitzhaki is currently studying writing and screenwriting at Minshar School of Arts. Born in Jerusalem, she move to Tel Aviv at age sixteen, became involved with Punk culture, moved to Amsterdam, fell in love, and traveled to South America – the setting of this memoir. 10 KILOS OF COCAINE was first published in 2006 in Hebrew and Sharon now offers it to the English reading public. The beautiful author shares images of her complexly tattooed body on the Amazon site and on the cover of her book.
Sharon plunges the reader into the breathless pace of the memoir as the book opens – ‘Where the hell is Ronny? He’s been gone for over a day. I paced nervously, cooped up in a dinky hotel in La Paz, clueless as to what’s next... Where should I look? Whom should I talk to and in what language? My heart was beating so hard it almost tore my chest open. Was he kidnapped? Murdered? Or did he just go off with some skanky Bolivian girl? The sixth Valium started kicking in and I was getting blurry…’ Sharon uses this immediacy of language to relate her true story of her incarceration in Bolivia.
Briefly, the memoir covers the following – ‘When she was just 20 years old, Sharon Yitzhaky traveled to Bolivia with a partner she barely knew, but soon found herself framed in a complicated drug smuggling scandal for attempting to smuggle 10 kilos of cocaine. Her sentence was harsh, and she was sent for five years to Mira Flores Prison, known as the toughest in the world. With no means and no knowledge of the local language, she was thrown into a horrific reality where she knew she would have to survive against all odds.10 Kilos of Cocaine is the unbelievable true story about unbearable life in prison, the special ties Sharon cultivated with the head of the La Paz drug cartel and the judge appointed to her case, the drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation, and the soul sister she met in the harshest place on earth. Her memoir is a thriller in every sense of the word, but also a testimony of the incredible strength of the human spirit.’
While other books about prison life are grim, Sharon closes her memoir with a positive note: ‘Today, as strange as it sounds, I thank my fate that got me there and gave me the opportunity to know myself and shed so many superfluous layers…I would not trade his school of life for anything.’ The next step for Sharon – consider a screenplay of this memoir!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews