Official Story
After doing much research, I found the truth:
"BROKEDOWN PALACE is a journey of self-discovery that transcends guilt or innocence," says the film’s producer, Adam Fields. "It’s a story in which heroism and redemption — and ultimately a great act of valor — emerge from the unlikeliest of sources."
For years, Fields, a veteran producer and production executive, traveled the world on the carefree youth hostel, low-budget, Eurorail pass travel plan. During these travels, Fields noticed numerous flyers posted in the local coffee houses and marketplaces, encouraging American tourists to visit compatriots who had been imprisoned, falsely or otherwise, on charges of drug smuggling or drug possession. He always tried to make a point of visiting those young Americans.
Ten years ago, Fields traveled to Thailand. Although this time ensconced in a plush Bangkok hotel, Fields returned to the bohemian haunts of his youth, where he saw the same flyers and found their desperation to be particularly unnerving. Fields then began to seriously explore the plight of these young Americans imprisoned abroad, living in the most squalid and primitive of conditions, and he was overwhelmed by what he learned.
"During that last trip to Thailand I met with a group of 15 American girls who were serving long sentences in a Bangkok jail on charges of smuggling heroin," Fields recalls. "After examining their files at the American Embassy, I discovered they were all clearly guilty — of being innocent, poor, naive or desperate. But most of all, I saw that their stories had one common thread: They all had fallen victim to men like our fictional Nick Parks."
In the years that followed, Fields developed a story based on the premise, "What if the worst thing imaginable happened to you, and you were possibly betrayed by your best friend? And just how far would you go to save that friend?" That concept was enthusiastically received at Fox 2000 Pictures, where it ultimately evolved into BROKEDOWN PALACE. Working closely with the studio, Fields assembled the creative team that would bring this gritty, realistic story to the screen.
http://www.foxmovies.com/brokedownpalace/brokestory/story.html