i needed $3,000 a month for the mortgage. johnny said i'm going to pay -- $10,000 american dollars. >> this is an answer to my problems. i can't believe i'm considering buying cocaine from a peruvian police officer. this is just getting way out of control. i was scared to death. now i'm in really big trouble.

this was a life or death situation. my biggest fear was that i would never see my children again. i had to plan an escape. in 2004 i had a very good life. i was 43 years old. i was married to my second husband. we were very happy together. we loved each other a lot. we used to ride motorcycles.

i loved this feeling of freedom. i had three children by my first husband. my daughter lived with me and my two other children lived with their dad. we just had a really great time in life. and then my whole world falls apart. i lost my job. i was pretty devastated. little did i know that my life would actually get worse after that. on christmas eve, my husband left me. now i'm by myself and trying to figure out how i'm going to come up with $3,000 a month for the mortgage so i can keep my home.

all these things just affected me to the point i couldn't go out and look for work. i wasn't up for it. got in touch with friends from austria. >> it's ruthie. >> johnny and vicki, they were friends with me and my second husband for many years. i was telling them -- >> billy and i broke up. >> they felt bad for me and they said, we're buying you a ticket to come over and visit. you need to get away from your life there because it's too depressing for you. >> that would be great. >> i thought this is a great idea. i'll go to austria and get away from the ugly scene here. >> it's ruthie. >> i called my daughter's father, my first husband to come and pick her up. then i go to austria.

johnny is a tattoo artist. they have a tattoo studio. >> thanks for having me here. >> they were kind of watching out for me and making sure i was okay. we were talking about my inability to pay my mortgage on my house at almost $3,000 a month. things are a little rough right now. then johnny started telling me about a business idea that he had that involved bringing something back from peru. what kind of stuff? he says that it's -- >> cocaine. >> i would be transporting cocaine. i'd seen the movie "midnight express." i was a little bit scared about that kind of thing. i knew there was risk involved.

but johnny said, well, i'm going to pay $10,000 american dollars. >> $10,000 was a pretty fair amount when you haven't worked a long time. >> this is a simple camping mattresses. he cuts it up. >> he's going to put cocaine inside of the mattress. >> spreads it out. >> so he wouldn't be able to see a package. >> it's completely flat, spread out? >> yeah. totally flat. >> it looks just like it came from the factory. it goes through airport security. you can't see a thing. >> the dogs wouldn't smell anything. >> and all you've got to do is bring the mattress back. >> it's bulletproof. easy job. $10,000. >> i'm like, hell, yeah. >> great. deal.

>> so a month later, i set off on this crazy job. i arrived in lima. little apprehensive. i'd never been to south america before. i was doing something i've never done before and didn't know exactly what to expect. johnny's contact juan was waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. i went and greeted him like we were old friends. we got in a taxi. as we're driving along, i remember looking at so much rundown buildings. i didn't like it too much. i started thinking, why am i here?

i don't want to stay here too long. juan took me to a hotel to stay in. told me i would be in peru maybe a week or so give or take. >> i call you later. >> just until all the business was settled. while we were waiting for everything to go through, i would go out and find things to do. there was an awesome bar right near my hotel. it was a heavy metal club. peruvian guys dressed up in gothic-type wear. playing heavy metal music in spanish. it was great. i had the best time there.

>> who is it? >> juan. >> un memento. >> next day juan came to my hotel. he was carrying a backpack. >> here's the mattress. >> he was kind of funny because he always called it special stuff. johnny had told me how we were going to do it. it was going to be like spread out, but when i unrolled the mattress, it was actually all in one spot at one end of it. what's this? >> johnny said it would be all spread out and you wouldn't see it. >> it's a pillow, it's fine. >> i started to get worried at that point that it could possibly show up. >> what about the x-ray machines?

>> it's fine. don't worry about it. it's okay. >> i didn't know what to do at that point. i was terrified. it was right before i was catching my flight. i was just going to have to take it like it was. i just had a bad feeling about things to come. when i arrived at lima airport, there was a lot of police with guns and dogs so i'm starting to get pretty nervous. had to go through the security. i didn't like the way the mattress looked.

i started to kind of get worried at that point that it could show up when it went through the x-ray machines. i'm watching the people that are inspecting the x-ray screen to see if there is any change in their expression. suddenly the conveyer belt stops. they look closer. i was very nervous inside. i felt my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. this was a life or death situation. it could get very bad. ers affordable renters insurance. with great coverage it protects my personal belongings should they get damaged, stolen or destroyed. [doorbell] uh, excuse me. delivery. hey. lo mein, szechwan chicken,

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i'm watching the person who is scanning my bag, which

contains a kilo of pure cocaine, hoping that as it went through it wouldn't look suspicious. i was scared to death at that point. and then finally my bag comes through. that was a relief. then i'm home free. i'm ready to go get on the plane. vienna was probably one of the most relaxed airports i've ever been in. nobody came and approached me or hassled me. got off, went and got my luggage and out of the airport.

>> how was it? everything smooth? everything fine. >> great. >> johnny seemed very pleased and very happy. i feel great. >> thanks. >> i just made $10,000. after i got paid for this trip, i got my mortgage company off my back. >> i'll call you. >> i was ready to go and make some more money. >> over the next 3 1/2 months, i made two more trips. >> there is the mattress. special stuff. >> i wouldn't exactly call it easy money. because it is a very nerve-racking job. but everything went like clockwork. soon as i got paid, i would go back to the united states, pay the mortgage and spend some time with my children.

it was my third trip when things started to go wrong. i was carrying two kilos of coke and what is probably getting a little bit complacent because everything was going nice and smoothly. suddenly, a couple of scary-looking guys with guns approached me. i've seen you here several times, why you've been to lima so many times? oh, my god. i'm carrying a big bagful of drugs over my shoulder while i'm talking to a cop. i have to be cool. i just come up with something off the top of my head. >> i'm selling tattoo supplies. >> we have a tattoo company in europe.

so i pull up my sleeves. they kind of scanned over my tattoos and looked at them. they just accepted it. >> okay. i was like, whew. narrow escape. i was worried they were paying too much attention to me now and i thought to myself, maybe it's time to take a break. but my financial situation still not good, it was just too hard to catch up with all the months what is behind. i started getting letters from the mortgage company that threatened foreclosure.

i didn't know what i was going to do. and then johnny called and said, need you to go again. it was dangerous. but i didn't want to lose my house. i thought about, yeah, okay, so i go to work for one week i get 10 grand. yeah. okay, i'll do it. >> so it was back to going to work and paying the mortgage. this time when i got to lima, things didn't work out so well. i told juan i needed a kilo and i gave him $2,000. he told me there was a crooked cop. he suggested that juan buy the coke from him.

i'm not sure if he was just trying to sell a kilo of coke and make some extra money or if he was really trying to set us up. he can watch me go to the airport and have me arrested. i can't believe i'm even considering buying cocaine from a peruvian police officer. >> we have no choice. >> but if i came home empty-handed, i wouldn't get paid and i would lose my house. >> it's up to you. >> i had to go ahead and make the deal. this is just getting way out of control. that can change the way you live for years to come. how can you help?

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the more that juan spoke with him, he got the idea that it's going to be a bad deal.

that this cop could be trying to set us up. >> at the last minute, i decided there was too much at risk. i canceled the whole transaction. i don't want to do it. no. so i did not make a dime on this trip. i decided pretty much that i didn't really want to do this anymore and it was really time to get out. after that was probably one of the worse times in my life. the mortgage company, when you get so far behind they order the

foreclosure. my daughter helped me move out of the house and pack up all my stuff and that was hard. my daughter took it pretty hard, too. don't worry, honey. i'll get us back on our feet. my daughter went back to her father's house in miami. i had nowhere to move to. i was pretty much homeless. i needed to get some money fast. then johnny calls. i was in such a bad situation. i decided i'd do it one last

shot and that was it, no more. from the get-go, i had a bad feeling about this one. when they gave me my boarding pass, they wrote in red magic marker quite large. i don't know what it really meant. i should have listened to my gut feeling. when i got over to the security entrance, they looked at my boarding pass and they said, oh, no, you go over on this side.

>> please, wait here. >> i'm like, oh, god. what now? the police come up to me. are you ruthie lambert? i'm like, yeah. >> come with us. >> i was very nervous inside. so they put me in a little room. then they pull all my stuff out of my suitcase. they started asking me a lot of questions. >> what's your job? >> what i've been doing in europe. what i've been doing in lima? >> sell tattoo supplies. >> the police didn't really believe me. they come out with these big pads and they start wiping

everything down to see if there is any drug residue on there. like they thought that i was trying to smuggle drugs out of the miami airport. but my things were clean. but i realized that if the american police are on to me, obviously, i'm becoming hot. it's really time to get out. i told johnny -- i don't want to do this anymore. >> fine if you want this to be your last trip, fine. get this one taken care of. i should not have gone. hindsight's 20/20. it's too late for that now. on this trip i was picking up

three kilos. now i had to package it myself. i didn't have very much time and had a lot of work to do. crate it up in a big giant tub then put it inside the food saver bags. suck the air out and seal it. another bag. suck the air out. seal that one up. next i still had the mattress. cut the end off, slit the foam. open it up. put the cocaine inside. three kilos was way too much to try to stuff inside one mattress.

it was so fat with cocaine. it was really difficult to roll my mattress up. i started to get worried at that point. i was supposed to be on my way to the airport. it wouldn't even fit inside of the sleeve. it was a real job to get it inside of the backpack. i was afraid it could potentially give it away, but there was no time to go and redo it over again. i was very late, so i was just going to have to take it like it was. that was probably the worst decision of my life.

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this is the hour's top stories. officials surveying damage in the dallas ft. worth area after several tornados touched down last night killing at least eight people. five people died. officials believe the people were in their vehicles when the twister touched down. it continues a week wild weather across the south. since wednesday, at least 18 people have been killed by storms in alabama, arkansas, mississippi and tennessee. now back to lockup abroad. even though i was still having a bad feeling about the trip, i kept telling myself i'm being nervous for nothing. this is just like any of my other trips.

it was going to be fine. we drive up to the departures and i open up my door. suddenly a guy like a porter ran across, said, hey, put your stuff on a trolley. the alarm bells start going off in my head that this is different. in all my times i've been here, they never came out to greet me with a baggage cart. i was getting definitely kind of spooked over all this different behavior. everything did not feel right, but i told myself i was being overly nervous for no reason.

i'd done this so many times and everything had gone fine but i just felt very unsettled. i walk inside the airport. i'm already starting to think there's other things brewing besides me being late. the porter who has my baggage is standing off to my right and he's got a bunch of police officers with guns and dogs walking around my suitcases. i was really nervous. i walked up to the check-in counter and gave them my passport and my ticket. i can see them continuing to move around the luggage.

i was so scared. i should have walked away. suddenly the cops come up. they say we'd like to search your luggage. okay. i was feeling very apprehensive. they wanted to see my backpack. and i'm terrified. they pull out the mattress and they're kind of looking at it. i was just standing there watching them. one cop gets out some sharp device and stabs at it. my stomach was definitely upside down at this point. there's nothing on it. i'm like, secretly smiling to

myself that they didn't find anything. so i'm thinking they're going to let it go. nope. he stabs it again. i'm like, oh, god. pulls it out and he looks at it. still nothing on it. i'm like starting to really smile inside. i'm trying to keep the smile from creeping on my face. he stabs it a third time. i see it come out. it's coated with all white powdery stuff at the end. felt like a 50-story building crashed inside of my stomach. they handcuff me to the chair. they said you're being charged with drug trafficking. i was in shock. i went through a million moments of regret that night.

i should have listened to my gut feeling. i should not have gone. i was thinking about my kids and how much i missed them. i started to think about, oh, my god, what i'm going to tell my family. i'm in huge trouble. i have no idea what the penalty's going to be. i'm sure it's prison, but i have no idea for how long.

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they give you a mattress and find a place to sleep. people were in there for stealing, armed robbery, drugs, murder. there were a few women in there that were hard asses and wanted to make everybody's life they come in contact a living hell. there was a phone there so i called my daughter. >> baby. it's mom. >> she's frantic with worry about me because she hadn't heard from me for so long. only thing i could tell her was i loved her and i was sorry.

i miss you so much. i didn't know how long i would go away. i just told her i was really sorry and i didn't mean to hurt her and i'm sorry i let her down, disappointed her. you know, i ran out of time and we had to hang up. six years eight months, that's a long time. i wouldn't see my children, my family, my friends. i was devastated knowing i'm going to be suffering for years and years and years, the horrors of a foreign prison. i didn't know that it would get a lot worse.

i started to notice some small bumps around my eye. they looked like almost like small pimples or something like that. every day i knew one would grow and every day they would get a little bit larger. five years earlier i had breast cancer. i knew that my cancer had returned. i was getting very, very sick and i was also losing a lot of weight. i was very weak. i knew that i didn't get back to america soon and get some medical intervention, i was going to die very soon.

i figured i was looking at probably the beginning of 2012 before i would actually be able to return to the united states, and i knew with the health problems i was having, i wouldn't make it. my biggest fear in the whole world was that i would die in peru, never see my children again and never see my family again. i was very scared more than anything that that would happen. i had to make my way out of peru any way that i could. i had to plan an escape.

i had a lawyer who knew somebody that could help me get out of the country. the cost of escaping peru would be $2,000 u.s. dollars. my sister sent me the money. he had done this before so i took his word, but i was still a little bit apprehensive. he would drive us out of the country into ecuador. what's the border like there? >> a small modern place. walk through. >> walk across the border? >> that's it. we walk through. >> my lawyer got my passport back. there was a strange mark on the back of it written in like a white paint and i'm sure this is something that the peruvian police put on it to red flag people's passports when they've been arrested. i can't leave the country with that on my passport.

i took like a dark colored pen and scribbled all over it so it would blend in a little bit better with the cover of my passport. just in case, you know, it stuck out when i went through an airport. i was ready to go and we left a few days later. my escort and the sister-in-law picked me up and we got on a coastal road and headed north towards ecuador. i was feeling very nervous and very apprehensive about the whole trip. i didn't know what would happen when we got to the border. i didn't know what would happen when we got to the airport. i was very weak. my stomach constantly hurt.

constantly, i was in pain. i was just hoping that i would mange it back to america in time to save my own life. hours and hours later, out in the middle of nowhere, suddenly there was police officers out in the road flagging cars over. i'm really scared because i don't know if they're going to find something wrong with my passport. i could get sent back to lima and have to go back to prison to die. the police came up and asked me escort for identification and driver's license. i just sat very quietly in the back just hoping that he would let me go.

the cop looked over at me. i was so scared. at that point, i thought, oh, my god. it's all over. he was going to ask to see my passport. notice there was that white writing from the peruvian police on the back. but he didn't say anything. he waved us ahead and everything was fine. i was so happy to be out of there. finally we stopped not too far

from the border which was the middle of a big marketplace. my escort explained that we would walk through the marketplace. when we got to the other side, we would be in ecuador. i was very apprehensive because there's always lots of police, lots of guns at any border. so i couldn't believe we would be able to cross so easily. this was a big do or die day. if i didn't make it, i would never see my children again. thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. so we asked them... are you completely prepared for retirement? okay, mostly prepared? could you save 1% more of your income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now, could make a big difference over time. i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it, it helps in the long run. prudential bring your challenges

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it was probably almost a mile from one end of the marketplace to the other. all the way down, i was just

waiting for the police or somebody to stop me. i'm so weak, i'm afraid i'm just going to keel over and pass out if something bad starts to happen. and then in front of a big banner that hung across the marketplace, the sign that you are leaving peru and entering ecuador. i couldn't believe it. there was no police anywhere. oh, my god. i'm out of peru. i was elated as i walked under the sign. i'm not even going to look over my shoulder. i never want to see that country again.

i can't even describe how happy i was to actually have finally walked out of peru. we made it. i'm free. >> not yet. we still have to have your passport stamped. >> i couldn't believe it. >> why? >> we need to have your passport stamped out of the country. >> i didn't know what to do at that point. i was so scared we were going to end up being arrested and thinking, it's over again, you know? i mean, i can't believe it. i didn't want to be showing anyone my passport. if they run my name, maybe it will come back i'm supposed to be in lima. they would arrest me and send me back to prison and i would die in there.

we walked into the border patrol place. and we walked up to one of the windows. the guard looks at my friend's passport and he starts flipping through it. where's your stamp for leaving peru? >> i didn't get my passport stamped on the way out. i didn't even think about it. so the man says, well, you need to have your passport stamped before you leave peru before you come into ecuador. i was scared to death. i thought they were going to arrest me and send me back to peru. my friend walked into this little office with the man he was talking to. i was really freaking out. i was afraid to go in this room.

i knew i was going to end up in handcuffs. i heard him asking him, so, what's it going to take to straighten this out? we need to get our passports stamped. the guard says, oh, the both of you. so now i'm terrified he'll flip my passport over and notice that white writing from the peruvian police. my friend pulled out a crisp $100 and says will $100 be enough? i just stood there in the doorway frozen. i was so scared that we were going to end up being arrested for bribing cops. i'm thinking, oh, my god, it's all over. the guy took it. stuck it in his pocket.

he took both of our passports and they got stamped. then he handed them back to us. >> gracias. >> i'm so relieved, i was crying. trying to walk so calm but i just wanted to run. i can't keep from grinning. i've got an ear-to-ear grin. when i landed in miami after all these years, what is in tears. and my daughter and my youngest son came to the airport to pick me up. i was like trying not to get too emotional. they don't know what i've been through. they don't know how sick i am. they don't know the experience i had to live through the last years of my life and how happy i

am to be in my country and my city. i was so emotional. i almost got out and kissed the ground. my cancer has spread through my body. it can't be operated on. it can't be removed. it's going to be there. it's not going away. the only thing they can do is try to control it and try to prolong my life. the price that i paid is way more than i ever made out of drug trafficking. i didn't just end up in prison. i ended up with a death sentence. knowing that i could die in a foreign prison made me realize what's really important in life

and it's not money, it's not houses or material things. it's spending time with family, friends, loved ones. and every day that i get to spend with them to me now is precious. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons to a world of chaos and danger. now the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." when "lockup" producers traveled to the joliet correctional facility in illinois, they walked through