Australian Prisoner in Bali Forgotten

I know everyone is preoccupied with the flub up of Britney Spears at the MTV Music Awards and the bathroom bust of Senator Craig (I watched the coverage too), but what in the world is going on in Bali? I by no means want to trivialize the current events reported in mainstream media, but seriously, is anyone paying attention to the unequal treatment of supposed drug smugglers in Bali?

Let me explain. Two years ago Schapelle Corby, an Australian beauty therapy student, was caught with 4.1 kg of marijuana in her baggage at the Bali airport where she had arrived for vacation. Corby has maintained from day one the drugs were planted. Her defense attorneys claimed baggage handlers in Brisbane put the cannabis in her bag without her knowledge acting as part of an inter-state drug smuggling network. The drugs were suppose to be removed in Sydney, but weren't. Several witnesses and evidence backing the theory were presented during Corby's trial including John Patrick Ford, a prisoner in Australia who was awaiting trial and was subsequently convicted on charges of rape. Ford who was flown to Indonesia to testify in Corby's defense. He claimed he overheard a conversation in prison between two men and alleges that one of the men planted the marijuana in Corby's bodyboard bag. Despite a mountain of proof on May 27, 2005 Corby was found guilty and sentenced to twenty years for possession of marijuana.

Corby is awaiting a last ditch appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court, but in the last two years other alleged drug smugglers have gotten a much better deal including the brother of celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay of the show "Hell's Kitchen." Ronald Watson Ramsay was reportedly arrested in Bali in February for alleged possession of 100 milligrams of heroin. Ramsay received 10 months in an Indonesian jail; a sentence he felt was too harsh compared to others in his situation. Apparently, under Indonesian law, maximum sentences for drug use are significantly lower for addicts than non-addicts. Ramsay says he belongs to the latter group. Too bad Corby just didn't say she was an addict for her defense.

And then there's the sentence reduction for bombers convicted of killing hundreds in a nightclub. Ten men involved in the October 12, 2002 Bali blasts -- which killed 202 people won five-month cuts for good behavior. Corby missed out on a similar reduction because she was caught having a cell phone in her cell, something apparently is common place within the prison. She also spent a week in isolation.

And just this week the security chief of the Bali prison housing Corby has been arrested for running drugs in and out of the prison. Police say nearly 2.5 grams of heroin was found in his possession during a sting operation.

Now, I'm a firm believer in the old cliché, "Do the crime pay the time," but something just seems off by the whole thing. Not only am I skeptical Schapelle Corby smuggled in the drugs as apparent by the circumstantial evidence I really feel a 20-year sentence is extreme. I felt this way over two years ago and I still do. However, back then I thought she would be out of jail in no time since every celeb these days has a cause like Jim Carrey's plea for Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese Nobel laureate and human rights activist held for 11 years in house arrest by Myanmar's military regime. And I thought for sure the Australian government would be able to arrange some sort of prisoner trade. But two years later Corby still sits behind bars in a country she's never even seen.

So, while I have no solution since Indonesian law is by far not my area of expertise and my opinion on a whole has very little merit in this particular situation, I just don't understand why this woman is wasting away in a Bali prison. Even if she knew about the drugs, which I don't believe she did, others accused of the same crime have gotten much lesser sentences or gotten off. Even here in the U.S. O.J. Simpson hasn't seen that much time and he's written a book detailing the crime, if he did it of course.

By the way, Corby has a book out too, but she never hints at possibly being guilty.

Corby has to be the unluckiest person I have ever witnessed and I genuinely feel for her. I only hope someone can find a way to help her soon because she'll never be the same again after this experience.