Zoe Shepherd could spend nearly 50 years in a South American jail.

The 19-year old Brit is awaiting trial in Bolivia accused of smuggling 49 grams of cocaine.If she is found guilty, she could be sentenced to one year behind bars for each gram – worth about £50.And charity workers warned yesterday that the youngster from an English village would face a life of hell inside one of the notorious lock-ups in capital La Paz.Prisons Abroad spokesman Matthew Pinches said: “People inside these prisons are very vulnerable.“They are lawless and a dangerous place to be because guards have very little to do with the inside.“They stay on the exterior to stop prisoners absconding.”Zoe, of Menea, Cambridgeshire, was searched and arrested at Santa Cruz airport last month. She had toldcolleagues she was taking time off work at a hair salon called Curl Up And Dye to visit her dad in Spain.
One friend said yesterday: “I’ve worked with Zoe for two years and this is all so completely out of character. She’s a lovely girl. “This could be the end of her life as she knows it. I really feel for her and her family.”Zoe’s MP, Malcolm Moss, said she had been visited by a British consular official and had been allowed to use her mobile phone to call home.