Deadly riots, hunger strikes & strip searches…Inside brutal Georgia prisons including jail holding Brit Bella Culley, 18
WHEN Bella May Culley set off on her dream holiday last month, the teen's parents pictured her enjoying sun-kissed white beaches before returning home to continue with her nursing studies.
But now the Brit could spend the rest of her life behind bars in an brutal ex-Soviet prison, facing humiliating strip searches, overcrowding, vile bathrooms and deadly riots.
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Bella May Culley faces years in a Georgian prison
Credit: @bellamay.xx / tiktok
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The Women's Penitentiary No. 5 near Rustavi (pictured) has been slammed for its treatment of inmates
Credit: AFP
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The teenager was led into a Tbilisi court in handcuffs
Credit: East2West
The nursing student from County Durham is currently being held in Georgia accused of trying to smuggle 30lb of marijuana into the country.
The 18-year-old went travelling with her pal but decided to take a spontaneous trip without her to Thailand on May 3.
On Saturday, she lost contact with her parents, sparking fears she had been abducted, but the next thing they knew, she was in handcuffs in Tbilisi facing serious charges.
Georgian authorities say she tried to stash 34 bags of cannabis in her luggage which was detected at the capital's airport.
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If found guilty, the Interior Ministry say she could be sent down for 20 years or even life.
Bella will then be housed with Georgia's most dangerous women in its notorious Women's Penitentiary No. 5 in Rustavi, 45 minutes outside Tbilisi.
The former Soviet satellite state has been slammed by rights groups for its treatment of its prisoners.
A report by Georgia's ombudsman into Women's Penitentiary No. 5 lays bare the horrors awaiting the teenager.
Most read in The Sun
The report said: "When prisoners are received at the No.5 Facility,
they are inspected naked and are requested to squat, which the inmates consider degrading treatment.
"According to inmates, this procedure is especially humiliating and intensive during an inmate's menstrual cycle."
Brit teen facing life in prison after being 'caught with 14kg of cannabis' in her luggage after huge airport arrest
The group then details the hygiene problems at the prison, with no running drinking water, clogged drains with dirty water pooled on the bathroom floor, and concrete shower blocks with rusting metal walls, windows with no glass and no privacy.
No sanitary products are provided to the female inmates, with prisoners forced to fashion sanitary towels or adult nappies from fabric, the ombudsman reported, in an affront to "human dignity".
A separate report by Human Rights Watch found the Georgia's prisoners were "severely overcrowded", threatening the safety of inmates.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment described the conditions at a nearby facility as "degrading", "inhuman" and "an affront to a civilised society".
Of particular note to Bella are the conditions for pregnant women and mothers.
Taking the stand, she told the court she was pregnant before adding she would reserve the right to remain silent.
She is said to be 'confused and terrified' and now faces a medical examination to establish whether she was telling the truth.
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Georgia has been slammed by rights groups for its treatment of its prisoners. Pictured: Women's Prison No. 5
Credit: Linkedin
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Culley is accused of trying to carry 30 pounds of cannabis into the country
Credit: Facebook
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Bella posted pictures of her travelling in Thailand
Credit: @bellamay.xx / tiktok
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She previously shared videos showing wads of cash on social media
Credit: @bellamay.xx/TikTok
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She was hauled in front of a courthouse in Georgia's capital and could face decades in prison
Credit: East2West
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Police say they found 34 bags of cannabis in her luggage while trying to enter the country
Credit: East2West
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Bella compared herself to 'Bonnie & Clyde' on TikTok
Credit: TikTok
The ombudsman's report found children are able to stay with their mothers in the facility until the age of three until they are then removed.
But they criticised the appalling lack of provisions for children in the facility, with no shoes or warm clothes provided to babies, insufficient food, and no curtains in their rooms.
In a Tbilisi prison in 2006, seven inmates were killed and 17 suffered serious injuries in one of the country's worst ever prison riots, with authorities accused of using excessive force.
And earlier this year, journalist Mzia Amaglobeli went on hunger strike inside the women's prison, protesting Georgia's authoritarian government.
Her lawyers claim the chief of police spat in her face, refused to give her water or access to toilets, and was denied access to her lawyers.
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The cannabis was wrapped in black bags in her luggage, police said
Credit: East2West
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Police in Georgia released images of the alleged hoard the British teen is accused of trying to smuggle into the country
Credit: East2West
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Bella May Culley went travelling in South-East Asia last month with a friend
Credit: Facebook
Bella's lawyer said after her court appearance: "My client is currently exercising the right to remain silent, so we will provide detailed information later, once they decide how to proceed.
She recently completed an access course at Middlesbrough College and had hoped to become a nurse - but first wanted to go travelling.
Her baffled dad Neil Culley, who lives in Vietnam where he works off-shore, is flying to Eastern Europe to be by his daughter's side in Georgia today.
A loved-one said: 'She is just a student - she doesn't really go out or do anything like that. She just wanted a break so took herself to Thailand.
'She must have become mixed up with someone. She must have met someone who has taken advantage of her.'
Meanwhile, mystery surrounded a string of company directorships Bella appeared to hold, despite being described as a "normal student" and family and friends having no idea about them.
Records showed apparent links to the Far East - with Bella listed as the director of at least two companies with Chinese ties.
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