Cellmates 'giving Corby hell' (Australian woman who recieved 20 years in Indonesian prison)

Australia Sunday Herald Sun ^ | 5/29/05 | John Hamilton

[wagglebee]

CHAPELLE Corby is suffering cruel abuse and racial taunts in jail as Indonesian authorities move to keep her in prison for life.

The Indonesian Government yesterday backed the prosecution bid to toughen Corby's 20-year jail sentence for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali's airport last October.

"The 20 years in jail handed down by the Denpasar District Court is too light," Indonesian Attorney-General Abdul Rahman Sale told the Bali Post newspaper.

"She deserves to be sentenced to life."

As the reality of the marathon jail term sank in, Corby, 27, issued a heartfelt thank you to the nation.

"Thank you Australia. Thank you for standing by me," she said through her lawyers.

"Thank you for being there with me."

In other developments:

IT emerged long-term inmates of the dirty and overcrowded prison where she is being held have life expectancies of only 10 years.

THE trial judge defended his verdict as just.

HER family fears she may take her life if she is left to rot in prison.

MEMBERS of the Bali 9 were left dispirited after hearing for the first time that Corby had been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

THE Federal Government is offering to pay for the services of two top QCs with expertise in appeals in Indonesian law.

Corby's Indonesian lawyer, Vasu Rasiah, said she was struggling inside the notorious Kerobokan prison.

"Schapelle is very emotional - sometimes she is smiling, sometimes she is crying," he said.

"She's undergoing deep shock."

"Five or 10 years maybe you can understand, but 20 years - she just can't comprehend the time frame."

Ms Corby's cousin, who gave her name only as Nina, described the Australian's jail cell as a "disgusting, dirty and overcrowded place".

"She says the Indonesians inside are giving her hell because she wears western clothes and she can't speak Indonesian," she said.

The jail, near the Balinese capital Denpasar, was built for 366 prisoners, but holds 525. Among them are the Bali bombers.

The "Smiling Assassin" Amrozi - so-called because he laughed when punished for his role in killing 88 Australians - has yelled abuse at Corby as she tried to exercise.

Kerobokan prison doctor Anak Agung Gede Hartawan said common diseases included respiratory ailments and skin conditions, while many prisoners complained of headaches.

AIDS/HIV was rife, because corrupt officials turned a blind eye to drug abuse - indeed they are implicated in supplying them.

Dr Hartawan said 11 prisoners were confirmed carriers of HIV/AIDS, but dozens more were thought to have the virus.

Corby shares her 5m-wide cell with seven other women.

She will be forced to wash with a small bucket of untreated water and a ladle.

The squat toilet is near the food preparation area and the risk of contracting gastric disease is high.

For up to 20 hours a day she will be confined to her cell, where she will sleep on a mat on a tiled floor under a fluorescent light that is never switched off.

Chief judge Linton Sirait defended the guilty verdict, dismissing public angst the decision has caused.

"I am responsible for my verdict to the God, not to the people."

Corby's mother Rosleigh had screamed after the verdict that the judges would lose sleep over their decision, but yesterday Judge Sirait said he had slept "very well last night".

He said had not let Corby's emotion influence the decision.

"A judge is not allowed to bring his emotion to the case, so the judge decides in accordance to the law," he said.

Corby's family last night issued a statement appealing to Australians to continue visiting Bali.

"Do not boycott Bali. We don't want the Balinese people to hurt any more," it said.

"We just want the Australian people to boycott Qantas flights and direct your anger at Jakarta.

"Thank you to all the Australian people for their support. We are not finished yet."

Corby's brother Michael feared his sister might try to take her own life.

"She'd be thinking of killing herself," he said.

"She's been strong up until now, believing justice will prevail. But now . . . she's not going to cope."

Corby's Australian lawyer said it was likely they would accept the Australian Government's offer of legal assistance.

Solicitor Robin Tampoe said any assistance from Perth QCs Tom Percy and Mark Trowell, experts in appeals and Indonesian law, would be welcome.

The Australian Government had urged the Corby defence team to accept the pro bono offer.

Mr Percy yesterday warned that Corby risked having her jail term extended to life if the defence team appealed.

But criminologist Professor Paul Wilson, who testified in favour of Corby during the trial, said a win was not out of the question.

"It will be extremely difficult, but not impossible," he said.

[TKDietz]

"That's a US problem, if our jails weren't hotels maybe criminals would actually fear going there."

I don't know about where you live but jails where I live aren't hotels. In the both the county where I work and the county where I live our jails are packed way beyond capacity and people are sleeping on the floors. Violence and sickness are common. I had a 19 year old male client in jail a few weeks ago who was raped his third night in, and I'm sure that happens a lot more than is reported. There are some scary people behind bars. I'm public defender and I see people in the jail or going there all the time. Grown men cry about having to go to jail. Prisons in my state are worse. No one wants to go there, and you can bet people are afraid of it, terrified. On rare occasion I might get some guy who talks tough and says he doesn't mind prison, but he'll fight like hell to avoid going there and you can bet when he goes down he'll try to get out of there as quick as he can. A stint in prison is no fun filled vacation.

The problem is not that prisons aren't rough enough, it's that we have unrealistic expectations about what sending people to prison can accomplish. We must believe in prison more than any other country in the world because we have the absolute highest number of people behind bars in the world as well as the world's highest per capita incarceration rate. The fact is though that about the only thing prison really does well is keep the really bad people away from the rest of us for a while. That, and soak up money. Prisons are really good at that. Prisons can also act as a deterrent, but there are serious limitations to that, especially when it comes to drugs.

For instance, I can tell you from my experience that drug addicts are almost to a man terrified of going to prison. But they are also drug addicts. Their lives revolve around their addictions. They are great at rationalizing but not worth a darn when it comes to rational thoughts about important things, like staying out of prison. They do what they have to do to feed their addictions and cry like babies when they get caught, desperate for some way to avoid the consequences they have coming.

And the dealers, mules, and manufacturers? Most of them are addicts doing what they do to feed their addictions, so like all addicts their primary concern is avoiding withdrawals and while they might be afraid of prison it is a secondary concern that they will brush aside in order to take care of priority number one. They convince themselves that they can get away with it, and in fact their chances of being caught are much less than those for a violent criminal or a thief or someone else likely to leave victims and witnesses out there hounding the police to make an arrest. These people are busted though left and right and sent to prison, often for a long time, but still there seems to be a never ending supply of them, whether the replacements are in it for money or the drugs.

Are some people deterred from doing these things by the threat of prison? Certainly, but the way the drug markets work there are always enough people left who aren't deterred to get the drugs to people who want them. It doesn't matter that a lot of them go to prison. It doesn't matter that some who would deal in drugs are deterred by the threat of prison. There is a high demand for drugs, a seemingly unlimited number of sources for them, and the people who want these substances always seem to figure out a way to get them. These markets are extremely efficient. The demand attracts the supply and the supply always gets there one way or another.

[TKDietz]

"Not just Singapore. Other countries with the death penalty for drug offences are Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Brunei."

Do they not have drug problems in these countries still though?

[highlander_UW]

And I am a Christian who is acutely aware of Christian intolerance to a great many things.

You may keep your projection to yourself.

[Age of Reason]

I read that she claims it was planted

Even so, she voluntarily went to that place.

I would avoid going to any part of the third world unless absolutely necessary. I certainly would never go for fun.

[Osage Orange]

How much is that in our measurement?

About a 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale

[Osage Orange]

That is my opinion based on experience.

LOL!!!

[stbdside]

Most likely.

[Beckwith]

What are we playing here, "Mother May I?"

[Ken H]

"According to the Straits Times, Singapore is treating 7,700 addicts (up from 5,700 in 1990). Assuming improbably, that these are the only ones, Singapore still has an addiction rate 12% higher than the U.S." [from 1995]

-- http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/098.html

[Malaysia]"The National Drug Agency (ADK) has, through its efforts, registered more than 300,000 addicts in its drug fight. However, just like the iceberg, the numbers are only what is seen above the surface. Some local studies have suggested there are an estimated three to four addicts who are not registered with the ADK for every one that is." 

--thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2005/4/17/health/10678978&sec=health

"Iran has executed more than 10,000 narcotics traffickers in the last decade;"

--www.payvand.com/news/04/mar/1012.htm

"Iran has the highest proportion of heroin addicts in the world and a growing Aids problem."

--news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3791889.stm

[MilspecRob]

Mexico right here at the border, is not too bad, I don't want to travel into the interior.

[texasflower]

Those minor crimes as you call them are very often the basis or at least the starting point for other more serious crimes.

This isn't a hard concept. Drugs are easy to get, to be sure, but addicts find it hard to keep a job and find enough money to live and buy drugs.

Thefts, starting small and increasing into things like burglary, robbery, car theft, stealing money from family. Murder for drug deals gone bad. Physical and mental challenges due to drug use, with increases the homeless factor, the crime factor and the serious and often fatal, sometimes contagious diseases and conditions.

I could go on and on. You see, my very own brother has f***** up his life because of simple "recreational marijuana" use.

I have two cousins who used to be wonderful young men who are now homeless living under an overpass, who started with marijuana and alcohol. Neither of them are capable of recognizing family members anymore.

One killed a woman on her wedding day because he was driving under the influence of that "harmless" marijuana. He didn't even realize it, as he dragged her halfway down the street under his car. She unrecognizable, even to her fiance, when my cousin finally stopped because someone put a car in the street to block him.

My young uncle was 17 and I was 15 when molested me during a family campground while under the influence of marijuana. He was so mildly stoned, no one knew he was stoned. Yet every member of his family and mine was present. He asked me to take a hike with him, which was not uncommon. We had been more like brother and sister because of our ages.

I never told anyone, because I was ashamed. This uncle is now still using drugs and is also an alcoholic. He's now 48.

I can tell you about about classmates who are in jail or dead because of simple little drugs like marijuana.

Drugs lead to more serious crimes, so it is helping to take care of crime at the root.

Put down the virtual crack pipe and think about this. Most crimes also involve drugs. This is not a coincidence.

[highlander_UW]

What are we playing here, "Mother May I?"

I'm simply asking you not to project your problems onto others. If you're Christianity is marked by intolerance don't assume everyone else's is as well.

[Valin]

A kilo is 2.2 Lbs. a little over 18 lbs.
The moral of this story is DON'T smuggle drugs..especially into an Islamic country.

[Valin]

Something that may of escaped you attention is this was not done here, it was done in Indonesia. Remember in mush of the world drug smuggleing is REALLY frowned on.
Remember "midnight Express"?

[iconoclast]

"The Indonesian Government yesterday backed the prosecution bid to toughen Corby's 20-year jail sentence for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali's airport last October."

What would be the wholesale value in Indonesia?

Any wild guess?

[wagglebee]

Hell I don't know. . . .A half dozen virgins and a goat?

[No Blue States]

You make some strong points, and Im sorry for the grief you have been through. Thanks for sharing your opinion with me, really. I cant defend drug use and have seen it destroy people in my own life.

I do think this girl could be reformed with a 1-5 yr sentence instead of 20, provided it wasnt planted in the 1st place.

[iconoclast]

Hell I don't know. . . .A half dozen virgins and a goat?

I take it you think the question is irrelevant?

[No Blue States]

A kilo is 2.2 Lbs. a little over 18 lbs.

Isnt 4 kilos x 2.2 lbs = 8.8 (lbs)

If she sold it for 100 an ounce thats a $7,200. Someone in this story stood to make a decent profit. The love of root is the evil of all money.

[wagglebee]

No, I was being sarcastic. I believe that illegal drugs are always far less expensive in third world countries such as Indonesia than they are in industrial nations like Australia.