Seeking Life Outside the Walls

(3/10/2013)

The Sydney Morning Herald and New Zealand’s stuff.co.nz have both confirmed that the Australian government has made “formal guarantee” to the Indonesian government that would allow convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby to be released from prison on parole and allowed to livie in Bali until January 2017 when her sentence formally finishes and she would be free to return to Australia.

Corby was found guilty in 2005 of trying to smuggle four kilograms of marijuana into Bali inside a bodyboard bag.

An initial sentence of 20-years was reduced by five years by President Yudhoyono in May 2012 on compassionate grounds based on information that she was suffering from mental illness.

Under the terms of the guarantees, Corby would live at an approved address in Bali, surrender all travel documents to be held by the Indonesian police and be required to report on a regular basis to both Australian and Indonesian authorities in Bali.

The guarantees made by the Australian government do not mean that Corby will automatically be granted parole, but merely clear the way for an application for parole to be made on her behalf to the Indonesian criminal justice system.

Consulate officials delivered the guarantees to Kerobokan Prison on March 8, 2013.

Corby, now 35, was recently reprimanded by prison authorities for refusing to take part in organized group activities at the prison, acts that may negatively impact her ability to be favorably considered for future reductions in her prison sentence.