Bali May Return Schapelle Corby to Australia
This could be the best news I've read all day. Indonesia is about to agree to a prisoner exchange treaty with Australia that might allow Schapelle Corby to finish serving her 20 year jail sentence for importing 9 pounds of marijuana into Bali, a crime she denied committing, in her native Australia. Last May, Bali said a transfer would not be considered.
It's not a "go" yet. First, the transfer treaty would have to be retroactive and cover past offenses. It's not clear that it will. Second, Schapelle might prefer to do her time in Bali.
Family friend Tony Wilson has told ABC radio that Corby could prefer to stay in Bali where she can receive visitors twice a day -- a condition that apparently did not exist in Australia, he said. "A prisoner here in Queensland has very definite ways they spend their day. She's got a bit more degree of freedom about movement around the prison during the day time hours before the lock in at 4:30 in the afternoon," he told ABC Radio in Brisbane.
"So generally she's not happy to be where she is but she prefers what her lot is at present to the possibility of maximum security in Queensland,'' he said.
One other drawback:
The agreement does not allow for the home country of those who have been convicted to vary the original sentences they received in the other country.
However, Indonesia often cuts sentences while they are being served and perhaps she'd be eligible for the same cuts she might receive in Bali.
[Hat tip to Heretik]
TalkLeft's prior coverage of Schapelle's case.
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