It's an hour and 45 minute plane ride from Jakarta, where Hillary was, to Denpesar on Bali. I would have liked Hillary to tour the Kerkoban prison, just to provide some welcome and hopeful words to Australian Schapelle Corby,a young hair stylist who is serving a 20 year sentence in a hellhole of a prison because when traveling to Bali from Australia for a family vacation to see her sister who lives in Bali with her husband and children, customs claimed to have found 4 kilos of pot in her boogie board. Schapelle has steadfastly denied knowing anything about it.

At first they said Schapelle might get the death penalty. Then they sentenced her to 25 years. She's down now to 20 due to good behavior. There are prisoner transfer treaties between Indonesia and Australia, but Schapelle was denied even that. Here's a picture of what her cramped cell looks like, you can see the stove so close to the toilet.

This is a part of the job of the Secretary of State. If Hillary has an extra hour or two, I hope she will visit Shapelle, even for 30 minutes. I'd bet it will help with the extreme depression Schapelle has been suffering. Maybe Hillary can strike a deal with Indonesia that if Australia returns a prisoner to them, they will release Shapelle back to Australia and her family. Maybe they'd let Shapelle come to an American prison. Hillary would get big Karma points from the millions of us in the U.S. who are horrified by these draconian sentences for drugs and who want to give these lost souls a real life back.

If Hillary is too busy this trip (I recognize this is short notice) maybe I'll write her a letter and ask her to send one of her high-level appointees familiar with foreign criminal laws (the office does handle extradition) to visit when he or she is next in the country. It would be the right and the human thing to do.

For the rest of you, Schapelle likes to get letters:

Schapelle Corby C/- LPM Kerobokan Jl. Tangkuban Perahu Kerobokan,
Denpasar 80117 Bali, INDONESIA

The Herald described the conditions at her jail:

AIDS is rife in the jail as corrupt officials allow drug abuse to run virtually unchecked. Human rights activists estimate that life expectancy in the badly overcrowded jail compound would be between 10 and 15 years.

The toilets in the jail's squalid cells sit directly beside the benches where food is prepared. The jail was built in 1976 for 366 prisoners, but it holds 525.

Corby shares her 5m-wide cell with seven other women. She is forced to wash with only a small bucket and ladle. The untreated water is fetched from a dilapidated well in the prison compound.

Corby's family says the jail food is inedible. It comes around on a big cart -- a bucket of rice which her family says regularly contains stones, dirt and sticks, and a pot of some kind of stew. The pot is encrusted with drying and rotting food.

Free Schapelle, Boycott Bali

Since her arrest, Bali has freed at least two Militant Islamic terrorists.

Here's what Schapelle looked like when she arrived at the prison in Bali:

Shapelle is not the only one that could use a visit from a Secretary of State. Check out the Bali Nine, 9 Australians, as young as 18, facing the death penalty after a recent arrest for smuggling heroin into Bali. While they may not have the innocence claims of Schapelle, the use of the death penalty shows that Indonesia remains a truly backwards country.

I have refused to travel to Singapore ever since they caned the teenager some years back. Barring a miracle for Schappelle, Bali will be added to my list. That's okay, the beaches in Southern Thailand are terrific, and I've been looking for an excuse to visit the Seychelles and Mauritius.

I'll give the last word to Schapelle. These were taken right after she heard the guilty verdict and 20 year sentence.

One last thought: Maybe someone could get Hillary a copy of the HBO movie Ganja Queen (about Schapelle) to watch on a long flight.

All of TalkLeft's Schapelle Corby coverage is accessible here.