Visiting Schapelle Corby in Kerobokan jail Bali - part II

Bob said most people sleep on the floor of their cell. His sleeps 6 people and is a tight fit. I asked why they did not use bunk beds. "Its very tight in there." said Bob. "In other countries they use vertical space in tight rooms and bunk beds work pretty well." I said. "No man, that has not happened here yet," he said, "though you can pay for a mattress." Bob said he was a shipbuilder and passed his time building replica boats using just raw materials fetched by guards for a price from the outside. He also told me he has a boat in Hong Kong he needs to sell when he gets out. "I have got a lot of people I need to pay." he said. Looking around at the casual way in which the inmates and staff were strolling around I said, "Its kind of funny in here." "Yeah, Bob said, funny until you realize its no joke. They pass down sentences in years that should be months. I am really mad at them the way they screw up peoples lives."

Looking around I saw the French woman and her skinny son. "So what is that guys deal?" I said. "They caught him with 4 pounds of hashish. Twenty five years he got. Twenty five fuckin' years, his life is screwed." Apparently his mother moved out to Bali to visit him everyday. Their lives will now be inextricably linked by Kerobokan jail. Seeing other western men walking around, some older guys who dressed like they were on their way to Fabios for lunch, I asked Bob about them. "See that guy?" he said. "He got 7 years for possession and had already done the same amount as me."

"So if nobody visits you and you have to arrange your own food in here, what is it like long term?" I asked. "Its like being on a 5-year camping trip, downtown with no money." he said.

As I was talking to Bob I saw the Australian Consul appear and knew he must be there because of Schapelle Corby. Just behind him Schapelle appeared in a light blue shirt. As he left and she started to move away I jumped up and shouted, "Schapelle!" She came back and I said, "Look you do not know me, but I do a travel website on Bali that people read all over the world. Can I ask you some questions?" She said that because of the upcoming verdict on the 27th she could not really give me any info on what was going on. I said, "But people are interested in your mental state, how you are holding up." She said she was holding up okay and when I told her that the front door guards and the media were saying she was not accepting visitors, she said do not believe everything you read in the press. She would like visitors but her council advised her not to say anything before the verdict. Schapelle said there is no tennis court at Kerobokan as was reported in some newspaper and when I asked her about the lack of daylight / darkness she said she has gotten used to the fluorescent light being on the whole time. The press likes to exaggerate everything and one source said she had not seen the light of day for 6 months. When I saw her she looked tanned, more tanned than me. As she left I said that if I come back and ask for a visit for her to remember I was Nick from Baliblog.

Schapelles attitude was quite positive and I felt she had the impression that it would all be wrapped up on the 27th. I was actually thinking that her sentence would start then, but maybe she knows something I do not. It is no secret the Australian government has been working for a prisoner exchange and if she is found guilty will probably be shipped home fairly soon.

After Schapelle left I go back with Bob and we started talking about Solutions to problems. I asked him what a Solution would cost. Basically if Starsky & Hutch apprehend you on the street with some Special Cabbage or some Scooby Snacks you had better get 20Gs to their head-honcho fast. If things move past that stage you are in trouble. "The trouble is some of these backpackers think you can get off with 2-3Gs, but that is not the way it works." he said.

When visiting time was up I gave Bob 100,000rp and wished him luck. He says he will not be coming back to Indonesia and I can understand that sentiment. Personally I have absolutely no interest in messing with drugs in this country. They really will lock you up and chuck away the key. Once you are inside you become a cow to be milked so nobody is going to be in a hurry to get you out. I hope this look inside a jail is enough to make any would be drug-partier quit for the duration of their visit.

I also hope things work out for Schapelle.