By J.D. Miles
Click here for updates on this story
DALLAS, Texas (KTVT) — A wife and mother of three was planning a girls’ trip out of the country, but suddenly found herself alone and facing 12 years in a third-world prison.
In that prison, Sabrina Underwood says she had to endure hellish conditions and pay for protection just to stay alive. That woman is the daughter of a retired Dallas Police officer and is finally free thanks to her parents’ determined efforts to save her.
“It was only supposed to be a week,” said Underwood. “I told my kids it’s my first vacation by myself. It was supposed to be something quick, simple and fun.”
As a working mother of three, Underwood needed a break. So she planned the girls’ trip in late December to visit a friend who had moved to Panama.
She brought a suitcase that she says she was still packed after a road trip with her husband from Texas to Tennessee the day before. A suitcase with something inside that would turn her trip to Panama into a nightmare.
“When they opened the suitcase, on the top of it, I was like, ‘No, my medication is on the bottom, you gotta look in here,'” Underwood said. “And he stopped me, and he put his hand in and pulled out the gun, and my jaw dropped.”
Authorities at the airport in Panama found a handgun that Underwood’s husband received from his military deployment and had placed in the bag on their road trip.
“It was crazy,” she said. “It was surreal. I was losing my mind. I was texting, crying, shaking. In one second, my whole life was destroyed.”
The 34-year-old was soon in a Panamanian prison facing a 12-year sentence, accused of trying to smuggle the gun into the country.
“There’s a lot of conspiracy theories,” said Underwood. “I am not trying to sell the gun in Panama. I’m not an international criminal.”
Photos of the prison show a row of cells that other prisoners could enter, feces on walls, roaches everywhere and buckets that were used for showers.
“You couldn’t have blankets or pillows,” said Underwood. “Roaches crawling on you when you tried to sleep. It was very bad.”
Underwood says she was immediately targeted by other prisoners and relied on her cellmate for protection.
“People would steal from me,” she said. “And there was a Panamanian woman that, when I was getting out of the shower, assaulted me. There were stabbings. I witnessed a couple of stabbings.”
Underwood’s father Paul Inman, is a retired Dallas police officer who spent the last five months desperately trying to get her released.
“They were able to buy a phone from a guard, and that’s the way we were able to keep in touch with her,” said Inman. “And that right there kept me sane because I knew she was safe.”
After nearly a month, Underwood was eventually able to get out of the prison and was placed under house arrest in Panama while awaiting trial.
But the thought of being away from her three kids for 12 years was unimaginable for Underwood, who contemplated suicide.
“I had a plan for that,” she said. “I wouldn’t put my kids through that.”
Fortunately for the 34-year-old, it turned out to be just that, and last week she was released from prison without explanation and returned to the U.S. to the welcoming arms of her family.
” was ready to kiss the ground,” said Underwood. “I bleed red, white and blue. Now, I know America is not perfect, but I am so happy to be here, so happy to see my kids be able to play with them, hold them, walk outside, it’s a blessing.”
Underwood says it was the determination of her parents, not politicians, who made it happen.
“I know my parents,” she said. “I know my dad. They are strong-willed people and they don’t give up.”
Despite her ordeal and the loss of her job over it, Underwood still finds ways to smile at the memory and plans to use her experience to help others.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
