Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine are not the only foreigners doing long stretches inside Bali’s Kerobokan jail. A young man from France named Michael Blanc flew into Bali on Dec 26th 1999 from India and has been in jail ever since, serving a life sentence.
When I went to Kerobokan jail in 2005 to interview Schapelle Corby or a member of the Bali Nine. Unable to do so, I talked to his mother Helene, who helped me get in. I had no idea who she was, but figured he was her son when they embraced. She suggested I ask to see Bob “who never gets any visitors.” My interview with Bob was revealing.
The Sydney Morning Herald did an interview with Helene Le Touzey just before the Corby trial. She said she believed public pressure not money was her son’s best bet of getting out. She was wrong as Schapelle Corby proved, trying to stoke Australian sympathies using the media. Balinese courts don’t care what people think, their agenda is way more simple. Michael’s website has a clock showing how many days and minutes he has been in jail. A sobering illustration indeed and as I’m writing this he has spent 2,689 days, 15 hours, 7 minutes and 38 seconds inside Kerobokan jail.
If you are visiting Bali and want to talk with a prisoner in Kerobokan jail, maybe Michael Blanc would appreciate a visit. From Kuta take the Sunset Rd towards Seminyak, driving to the end. Turn right heading for Kerobokan and right at the first set of traffic lights. The jail is the big white building with guard towers on your right side. Best time to visit is around 2pm.
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Yes it was a shame she did not work out cultural differences when in the earlier stages a cheaper and simpler “solution$£” might have facilitated his earlier release-by date. Her moral high ground has let her son rot for longer but all is not lost if she can see only that another solution may be desirable.
Alternatively she can rent-a-crowd at Seminyak banjar but then I suppose they don’t like blocks of illicit drugs getting to their kids either.