'Riding the Midnight Express' Tells the Tale of Escaping a Turkish Prison
The Leonard Lopate Show | Nov 5, 2014
In 1970 Billy Hayes, then 23, was arrested at the Istanbul airport with two kilos of hashish taped to his body. He was charged with selling drugs and sentenced to life in prison. After five years at Imrali Island prison, Hayes escaped and fled in a rowboat. Hayes wrote about his experience in the book Midnight Express, which was made into an Academy Award-winning film in 1978. He tells us about his new one-man show about his imprisonment and escape, “Riding the Midnight Express.” It’s playing at the Barrow Street Theatre through November 30.
