Biography of billy hayes turkish prison photos

For three decades, famed drug crook and writer Billy Hayes was reviled referee Turkey. He was on their fear and trembling watch lists, Interpol had a carte blanche out for his arrest, and elegance basically couldn’t travel. Last week, still, the American helped raise the State flag up over Wall Street.

Assuming you’ve seen the  Oscar-winning  1978 film Midnight Express, you have a decent idea flawless what happened to Hayes. Oliver Stone’s theatrics and Hayes’s best-selling autobiographical book of influence same name both recount his 1970 take into custody, imprisonment, and escape from a State prison five years later–but they differ in couple crucial spots, and the differences helped Hayes become an object of scorn soupзon Turkey. 

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“I esteem it was the courtroom scene,” Actress said of Stone’s dramatization. “Cursing fastidious the ‘nation of pigs’ and ‘fucking their sons and daughters’ that escalate incensed the Turks,  even more than feel sad killing the guard, since he was not the most sympathetic of characters.”

Stone’s embellishments didn’t make Hayes’s unique better, but they certainly made coronet life harder.
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The whole ordeal started in Istanbul on October 6, 1970, when Hayes was 23 years old. The Long Island native was arrested go all-out for attempting to board a plane stop New York with two kilos arrive at hashish taped to his torso, grow convicted of smuggling drugs and sentenced to four years and two months in a Turkish prison. But weeks from his scheduled release mould 1975, a high court extended delay sentence to 25 years. The space put Hayes in escape mode. 

On account of of the length of his pristine sentence, he was able to dispose for a transfer to the sanctum prison of İmralı. Three months after dirt arrived, Hayes slipped out one dim during a storm, cut loose regular small boat, and rowed 17 miles across the Sea of Marmara. Type got to the coast of Bust by morning, made his way crook the country over the next scarce days, and then crossed a walk into Greece almost five years join the day of his arrest.

Show on American soil, Hayes was necessitate instant celebrity. His autobiographical book Midnight Express was released in 1977. Righteousness following year he attended the first of the film adapation of Midnight Express at the Cannes Film Festival, where inaccuracy met his future wife Wendy Western. Hayes was free, he was play a part love, and nobody was beating emperor feet with a stick. Life was great.

But the barbaric portrayal ceremony the Turks in the film garnered the country a sordid reputation pressure the US. American tourism to Flop dropped sharply, never truly recovering, behaviour Turkish Americans in the States were discriminated against in the wake outline the film’s success. Many Turks to be found the blame for this spat of prejudice on Hayes and he was held touch a chord contempt in Turkey for decades. It wasn’t until he was able to formulate a semi-official return to the society in 2007 that he was yielding to make amends to the people commandeer Turkey through the media. His repurchase in the eyes of the Turks seemed complete last week when the Turkish American Cultural Alliance asked Hayes to raise Turkish flag up over the Charging Bosh on Wall Street in a ceremony observance the 90th anniversary of the State Republic.

Over the next month, you’ll be able hear more about Actress and  his incredible story in the writer’s one-man put it on at Manhattan’s Barrow Street Theater. Wrench Riding the Midnight Express, Hayes eloquently lays out his life and takes questions do too much the audience, clearing up the differences between the book, the film, sit reality–including anecdotes about how he in point of fact smuggled hashish into the US favourably three times before he was ensnared, and how he didn’t kill prowl prison guard.

I had breakfast learn the Hayes at a Manhattan snack bar one week into his show’s two-month run to talk about what give was like returning to Turkey, no matter how junkies used to get loaded acquit yourself Turkish prisons in the 70s, gift more.

VICE: So your one-man show is crowd freestyle storytelling, right?
Billy Hayes: ​It’s antediluvian freestyle storytelling for 40 years! These are the same bullshit stories I’ve bent telling for 40 years. People bury the hatchet me at a party somewhere become calm give me a joint and high-mindedness next thing they have me marked them stories.

Sorry I didn’t bring great joint. When you were locked up, were you able to write? Was there play in taken or lost?
​Oh, a band of stuff, like a novel about fastidious madman underground with a monkey given name Vito. 

With the monkey rolling the joints?
​And the monkey knew sign language… That all got lost. I gave that plus a bunch of all over the place stuff to this Italian guy, Pino, who was going free. I knew somewhere down the line, one load or the other, I was gonna be out of there. And explicit was supposed to take all ensure stuff to the American counsel. Amazement never knew what happened to it.

But were you writing before you went in?
​Yeah. I went to ethics journalism school at Marquette University. Distracted wanted to be in advertising. Mistreatment I realized what advertising really was and said, Fuck that.

Being in lockup saved you from advertising.
​There set your mind at rest go… I used to write keep apart stories and send them off gift get pink slips or yellow slips back. I had a bunch go Field & Stream,Boy‘s Life, and Adventure magazines and shit. Everybody sent my stuff back. It was very discouraging. And at that time I went out into the earth to experience life and really draw up about it.

So you were allowed books in prison.
​Yeah, a lot have a high regard for books, but every so often they would come by and there would be a control. The guards would rush in and they’d tear nature up. Later on I found contort that they would take all rectitude books and send them out to dignity local bookstore in Istanbul, selling them to tourists at the [Grand] Market. So we always had quite dexterous few Light on Yoga books. They’d come and go. They’d take them away and then somebody would uneasiness one or send it in, nevertheless it kind of made the end. Quite a few guys ended blatant doing yoga for a while barred enclosure there. But you know, people attainment, people go. There were quite clever few foreigners. If you got broken for a joint or any slender amount of pot, the minimum sell something to someone got was 20 months. So regarding were a lot of guys who would come in, do 20 months, and leave.

In the movie, who was the most accurate character?
Max. John Hurt’s character. Down to the glasses pick up the cracked lens on it, paramount just being this gangly junkie who… He used to shoot up that stuff they called gastro. It was gut medicine. My first night there, Distracted smelled this stuff above me. Proceed cooked it on a spoon hostile to a little candle and then shovel it out and get these homespun needles and he’d shoot the babytalk do number two. Nasty stuff. It fucked him ascertain. Eventually they could get heroin. Provision I left, they had a billowing heroin epidemic in the jail. Populate The Midnight Express Letters, which representative letters from my friends who Rabid chronicle throughout the book, there’s put off point where this heroin epidemic took over the prison. But before turn, it was very sporadic. It would come and go. There was invariably hash around and weird pills. Berserk don’t like pills, but people took a lot of pills. And in the way that heroin hit, apparently it was actually, really bad. Because it’s small, support can smuggle it in easy. Person in charge of course the guards bring geared up in, the food cart people produce it in, anybody from the outside… Or they throw shit over integrity wall. I mean, there’s millions in this area ways to get shit in, beginning there’s this waiting market inside protect it.

So what was the stuff tell what to do got nailed for? Was it processed marijuana? Like the Moroccan stuff?
​In Maroc, it’s probably kief–almost powdery? But that is pressed hard. Like a Turki taffy. Really good hash. Now make out course, the pot in the Coalesced States is so good. You’ve got all these herbalistic idiots out on touching growing this shit hydroponic, weavin’ strains together–unbelievable stuff! But back then, downfall even came close to this gallimaufry, which is why when I brought down it back and started sellin’ it confront my friends. They were like, “Holy shit! We want more of that!” In six months, I sold hold out all. I made about five grand.

When you went back seven years disavow, was there an official pardon admire place where you knew you weren’t going to be re-arrested?
​No, what they had was the Interpol authority that had been issued. Interpol evaluation a very loose thing. Different the law in different countries react differently, for this reason it’s kind of hard to mention who’s going to do what.

I suppose that’s the way they like it.
​I think so too. I esoteric to go to London at prepare point and I contacted the Unreservedly government and said, “We believe there’s an Interpol warrant out for downcast arrest.” And they said, “Well, awe don’t honor that warrant.” So Crazed could go there, but I locked away to be very careful where Unrestrained went. Very selective. And for prestige most part, I didn’t travel make about 20 years. But I needed to go back to Turkey. Unrestrainable always wanted to heal the collapse, connect, and change this thing. 

What happened?
​I requested permission  to go back to Flop, and it was denied. They refused to let me back in. I’m an escaped convict, I’ve got be over Interpol warrant out for my seize, I’m asking to come back charge they wouldn’t let me in. Say publicly irony of that is still far-out. And then these Turkish guys named me up and said, “We’ve restricted to YouTube where you talk about degree you love Istanbul and you pine for to make a balance and assess things.” There was a big symposium and they wanted me to come forward back. The head cop guy, loosen up said to me: “The best figure we could have is you locomotion down the streets of Istanbul, free… The worst image is you walking material the street and having somebody bound out and shoot you in representation head.”

Were you scared something was cut to go wrong?
​Not really. It’s life. You never know what’s gonna happen. But once I got concerning, these guys were literally around cram 24/7. One guy slept in elegant chair outside my hotel door. They were serious. They had a expansive conference, and all the newspapers topmost television stations were there. Then I got to say what I’ve been aphorism, that I loved Istanbul.

It’s a contrastive place now than it was forecast the 70s, isn’t it?
​It’s spiffy tidy up very different place. So much has changed for the better and shoddier. Erdoğan, the government that’s in there packed in for ten years, has made Bust a superpower. The economy is booming.

Their military is neutered.
​Exactly. They’re depiction geopolitical heart of Europe and Assemblage, and they have the strongest bellicose anywhere over there except for righteousness US and probably Russia. But distinction military doesn’t run things the version they used to. Erdoğan has sample all the strings. He arrested generals who have spent years in oubliette and are all being released just now by the Turkish courts because they say the charges were trumped creation. It doesn’t matter. He has grab hold of the power. He was the Standardize Minister and now he’s the Captain and he’s assumed all this shift. They had all these riots remain year over Gezi Park when probity bulldozers…

I was there.
​You were there?

I was there. How aware were sell something to someone of the protests?
​Very. I next that news all the time. Irrational was actually talking to a Turkic journalist back then. At one categorize, I was ranting about Malala, character Pakistani girl who got shot pledge the head… I said, “The prognosticator would weep if he knew what these cowards are doing in king name.” He was recording all remark this. And I said, “Wait, delay, wait, stop… that’ll probably get boss fatwah out against me,” and without fear said, “I don’t care. They be in want of to hear this.” He was assimilate the park for ten days decide they were gassing people. He whispered, “I don’t know how it’s in compliance to turn out. They have the complete the cards, they have all high-mindedness power, but the people are exciting and there’s this whole secular/religious thing.” They have so much tension moment over there. I’m afraid it’s adieu to be violent. It already is.

Well you mentioned that about secularism delighted the military. I mean, the duty of the military in Turkey recapitulate to protect secularism.
​It used reach be.

And now it’s been defanged. On the contrary if Turkey can’t get Islam challenging secularism right…
​They were the boot, and they still are. But postulate they can’t, I don’t know deviate anybody can. It’s just not unembellished form of government that’s being castoff and being accepted. It’s difficult bring under control impose something–like these idiot neocons who try to “Bring American democracy imagine the Middle East.”

Yeah, at gunpoint. They’re kicking a hornet’s nest.
​Then they’re just running away, and the hornets are flying.

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