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Recently Freed Venezuela Prisoner Details Barbaric Experience In Bug-Infested Cell

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An American held prisoner in Venezuela’s notorious Helicoide Prison described his horrific two-year experience in a Tuesday interview on NBC.

“They put me in a cell that was no bigger than what a twin bed would be,” Josh Holt, a 26-year-old missionary, told NBC anchor Hoda Kotb. “They had covered the door with a plastic bag so I wasn’t getting very much air. It was super super hot.”

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“So I was literally just lying on the ground, just in my underwear and just sweating as cockroaches are crawling all over me.”

Holt’s wife Thamy was also locked up, “in a cell with 23 women, not very big,” he added. “They were trying to get her to go against me so while they were trying to fill out paperwork, to get her to sign things saying that I was a bad person, this type of stuff, and she didn’t want to do it, she knew it was all fake.”

Holt recalled how police initially came to his apartment but left after asking several questions, returning 30 minutes later to arrest just him.

“At first, I wasn’t as afraid because here in America you trust your police officers,” he said, but “I didn’t know that it was so dangerous” over there.

Holt’s wife and parents, Jason and Laurie, joined him for the in-studio interview.

Holt was released on May 26, flew back to the United States with Senator Bob Corker (R-Utah), and was welcomed with a White House visit.

“You’ve gone through a lot, more than most people could endure,” President Trump told him.

Holt is writing a book with hopes to help others through “hard situations.”