Hell's Prisoner: Jailed for over Eleven Years in Indonesia's Most Notorious Prisons

by Christopher V.V. Parnell

Prepare yourself for a journey into the Indonesian penal system. A world where murder, torture and fights to the death are the norm. Where the guards turn a blind eye to the lethal weapons prisoners carry ...and use almost daily. Hell's Prisoner is the powerful story of one man's battle to survive in some of the world's cruellest and most inhumane prisons. Christopher Parnell, wrongly accused of drug trafficking, found himself catapulted into the maelstrom of madness and degradation that exists within Indonesian jails. Surrounded by murderers and sadistic violent criminals, he soon learned that life can be as cheap as a bowl of rice or a cigarette. During his imprisonment, Parnell was subjected to unthinkable sessions of torture, both physical and psychological. Left to starve and fight every day for his survival, he was forced to eat everything from cockroaches to human flesh. This is an incredible tale of fatalism and bureaucracy, of corruption and the horrors of prison, but most of all it is a no-holds-barred account of what the human spirit can endure.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2003

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad read, nice and quick. I always seem to take these with a pinch of salt. It was an interesting tale of woe of apparently an innocent man locked up in Indonesia for drugs. I always wonder how embellished the tales at times always coming off top dog in fights and surviving multiple attacks.
Still it's an interesting read and having recently saw a documentary on an Indonesian prison they certainly are hell on earth.

[annette howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

This book had me engrossed the whole way through, it was written with such honesty and captivated me completely.
I could feel what it felt like in Saul’s prison cell and smell the rotten smells and hear the noise.
It was also written with humour and made me laugh out loud!
Especially the red toothbrush situation!

[Amira Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing but there was a little humour in places. Exquisite story.

[Debra Sholli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aol.com

[Linda Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Start this book, you'll finish it in one sitting!

It grips you from beginning to end! If the will to live is strong, then you will live! Just wow!!!

[Alana Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hauntingly sad look into the prison system in Indonesia. While the writing sometimes felt a bit simplistic and elementary, it was still an engaging and easy read overall.

[Graham F Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unreal.

There are so many aspects of this story which I just find too outlandish to believe, read and make your own mind up.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

** books 136 - 2014 **

Iam moving forward and am now studying how to act in a civilised western manner. which means I have to stop eating with my hands, or washing my bum with water. I suspect that I carry a great many Asian traits, I just have to work out which traits to keep and which traits to discard. my only wish is that I could do the same with my memories. keep the good, discard the bad.. pages 219 of 219

that's how this books last paragraph stated.. wow it really shocking me when an innocent man being jailed for eleven years in indonesia's prison. it really prove that our law is not really good =__=a. how can they catch someone who doesn't know anything. I really admired mr. russell's survival level starting to eat cockroach and also rats..

I will give 3,3 of 5 stars!

[Christanto J K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book, the story taught me alot about prisons lives, especially in Indonesia where I lived. I heard a lot the reputation of these prisons but I don't know any story about it until I read this book.
I finished reading this book in 2 days, quite rare for me to finish a book in less than a week. I can't stop reading the book wondering how will be Christopher's fate in this book. Part that make me laugh the most it the shit throwing thing, I still chuckling if I remember that hahaha, this book tought that you can find lot of shit in prison.

[Wayne Purvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very well written at all but to be fair there is an authors note at the beginning explaining that the story is pieced together from scraps of paper he managed to have smuggled out of prisons over the years.

Regardless though the story alone is worth 3 stars. I felt like giving up after the first quarter but I'm glad I stuck with it

[Andrew Parkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely loved this book! the best prison book I've read. funny, brutal, exciting. it has everything. the author is an absolute star. stabbed in his eye and chest, beaten half to death and still seems to find the funny side to it. superb. read it in a day and couldn't stop laughing.

[Redzeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

True story, shocking and very scary personnal account of one mans experience of being found wrongly accussed of possessing drugs and being sentanced to 20 years in a variety of Asian prisons.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appalling story of absolute barbarism. On a lighter note, I've never read this much about feces in my life.

[Shravan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok ok kind a book. strictly for prison life lovers...

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether he really was set up or not is another matter but either way this is a fairly horrifying and graphic account of one Aussie man's ordeal in a Bali prison. The pages are teeming with tales of rats, hepatitis, beatings and squalor and is a genuinely gripping read. This is a tense and fascinating affair and in light of what happened on the same island with fellow Aussies more recently in the case of the Bali Nine, he was incredibly lucky to get out of the country alive and back to his homeland. This is a great holiday read though maybe not if you are in Bali.

[Hamid]

Good book. Gives account of life behind bars in Siuth East Asia