Corby may ask for parole, warden

Denpasar: Kerobokan Prison Warden I Gusti Ngurah Wiratna has given the green light to drug-smuggling convict Schapelle Corby, permitting her to ask for parole.

“She has already completed two-thirds of her imprisonment, therefore she can file for parole provided that she meets all the requirements,” the warden told reporters during a press conference here on Friday afternoon.

Ngurah said she has been in prison for 10 years, four months and 17 days.

Local and foreign media, especially from Australia, attended the packed press conference.

The warden’s explanation was in contradiction to his previous statements.

Previously an official had said that parole for Australian drug-smuggling convict Corby was unlikely given her poor record in jail.

The Kerobokan prison warden said on Thursday that good behavior and participation in local community activities were part of the requirements that made a convict eligible for a parole.

“The requirements are complex and the assessment is very tight. For example, Corby must be active in religious activities. I have never seen her praying in church since I was named warden of this prison three months ago,” Ngurah told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Thursday.

Ngurah said that members of Corby’s family, or the Australian government, had to file a proposal for parole.

News reports speculated that Corby might enjoy an early release in September following a five-year sentence reduction granted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In the country’s justice system, a convict may be eligible for parole if he or she has served at least two-thirds of his or her jail term.

The President’s act of clemency, taken together with an additional 25 months of remission that she has received since 2006, means that the 34-year-old Australian, who had been initially sentenced to 20 years in prison, will only have to serve about 13 years in prison. The clemency, signed on May 15, will cut five years from Corby’s 20-year prison term for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana from Australia into Bali in October 2004.

Corby would have been in prison until September 20, 2022 before receiving remission and the five-year clemency. After receiving clemency from the president, she should be released in September 2017. With the addition of the remissions, her release could be earlier than this.