My Letter to an Inmate - Schapelle Corby
I sit here today in my apartment with nothing to do. On television this afternoon I caught a documentary called Ganja Queen which told the true story of Schapelle Corby, a 27 year old Australian beauty therapist whose planned vacation to Bali for her sister’s birthday turned into a real life Brokedown Palace. In 2005 the courts in Indonesia found Schapelle Corby guilty of smuggling 4.1kilos(about 9 pounds) of marijuana into Bali from Australia.
The short end of the story is that upon arriving at Denpasar Airport in Bali on October 8, 2004 she was arrested for drug smuggling after customs officials found 4.1kilos of the green stuff inside her boogie board bag which she could not have taken with her on board due to its size (the board that is).
The Facts are…
- Schapelle checked in her bag at Brisbane airport and neither she, nor her travelling companions, had any contact with it until after it arrived in Bali.
- Schapelle’s travelling companion’s luggage and Schapelle’s own luggage were also never searched.
- Neither the Indonesian nor the Australian governments wanted to, or did investigate this case. There was no investigation into where or how Schapelle intended to sell the marijuana, if indeed the Bali police truly believed her guilty.
- The Bali Police refused to analyse the marijuana that convicted her. Hair from those who grew it would be in the resin. They didn’t want anyone to investigate. Later, this marijuana was destroyed, obliterating any chance it could be used to acquit Schapelle.
Where this story is at now? After multiple failed appeals to have her sentence overturned she been denied each time and is expected to spend a good portion of her 20 year sentence in prison. There have been reports as recent as April of 2008 that for good behaviour (which she has been demonstrating very well) she may be eligible for a program/prison job that would shave 11 months off her sentence every year until she is released.
I believe she is innocent. The evidence or lack there of does not add up. Visit Free Schapelle for more information on this sad story.
The reason for this post is that Ive decided to write Schapelle a letter of support and will send it directly to the Kerobokan prison in Indonesia. Something touched me when watching this doc and I feel compelled to send her something even if it is just words on paper. I have no clue what I want to write or say but I’m sure that any supporting words she receives will help her that much more. I am/was hoping that while writing this post some inspirational words would just materialize and the letter would be formed. That is not the case. While I have a million things going through my head I don’t know how to put it on paper but there is no right and wrong in how I write this letter only that the words I send help brighten her day and give more hope for the future.
Begin Letter…….
Dear Schapelle,
I don’t know how to begin this letter so I guess I’ll just get right into it I just hope that this reaches your hands. My name is Dan and I’m a 29 year old web developer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada and live with my lazy cat Stewie. I have had the pleasure of visiting beautiful Australia not too many years ago while backpacking. I had the time of my life there and I hope to return some day. Some of my greatest memories are from my trip up and down the cost from Sydney to Cairns stopping off at various hostels and hanging out with random people. I met some wonderful people most of which I still keep in touch with and have seen since then on their trips to my side of the world.
I really don’t know why I am doing this or what to write to you I just feel the need to send you something. I’m second guessing everything I put down for fear that it’s not the right kind of thing to say. I mean, what can be said by me that hasn’t been said to you a thousand times by others since this ordeal began. I’m also afraid I may say or discuss something that upsets you so please understand that I have the best intentions with anything you read in my letter.
I am off of work this week and with nothing to do I was flipping stations on my TV and found the HBO documentary Ganja Queen and I was immediately sucked in. I don’t think I blinked more than twice during the entire doc. I sit here writing this letter to you in complete awe and disbelief that this kind of thing happens to real people, that this has happened to you. I watch television shows and movies that depict this and never actually put it into context that these shows are based on real events… that something somewhere sparked the idea for this form of “entertainment”.
I had not heard about your story until this afternoon when I found the documentary on tv and the more I got into it the more I expected a happy ending. I am an optimistic person and still believe that things will work out for you. You have millions of people praying for your safe return. I am not a religious person by any means. I don’t pray and to me each person believes in their own form of god and you will be in my thoughts each and every day until I learn that you have returned home.
I’m staring off into the corner and suddenly life isn’t what it used to be anymore. I feel different towards everything…. the world. We sit here and take advantage of the luxuries of freedom and most every day people are blind to what happens outside of their homes.
Keep hope alive Schapelle and just know that everyone is waiting for your release because you will be going home. I look forwad to your return home and hope this letter reaches you in good health. Be well and take care of yourself.
Your friend,
Dan
Don’t think it can’t happen to you because it can.
For those interested in sending a letter to Schapelle the address is:
Schapelle Corby C/- LPM Kerobokan Jl.
Tangkuban Perahu Kerobokan,
Denpasar 80117 Bali, INDONESIA
Please visit freeschapelle for information on how to send your letters.
I’m surprised mine is the only comment, can people really be so indiferent to the wrongs of this world..or do they just not believe. Pity because I have been inside prison..and I was guilty of my crimes..but I can attest to the many who either were not or belonged in medical care as opposed to prison.
I commend your reaching out, not to worry about your words they were more than fine and I am sure will bring hope and a smile to this womans lips.
God Bless
[Reply]
Hi Mary,
Thank you for your comment. It surprises me a bit too but thats life I guess. I’ll post a follow up if I receive a reply from Schapelle.
[Reply]
Dan,
Thank you for posting such a great article. I am glad to see that there are others who believe in Schapelle and are joining her fight. Please consider writing to various organizations, politicians/political groups, etc. . . to join the fight and take on Schapelle’s case.
http://www.schapelle.net/whattodo.html
Kind regards,
Leann
[Reply]
Hey Leann,
I appreciate the nice words. Just like you as described on your site I knew nothing of this until seeing information about on tv this past month. it blew me away. i was so expecting the ‘happy ending’ to the story and I refused to look it up online until the documentary was done.
I hope my letter reaches her before she is possibly moved to another prison location.
[Reply]
Hi! I saw the DOC about two weeks ago and cannot get Schapelle out of my head. I think about her all of the time. I hope she writes you back. I was thinking about writing her too. I wonder whatever happened to her getting the job that would shave time off her sentence. Anyone know?
Kerri
Amityville Long Island
[Reply]
hi kerri. I hope she writes back too. More so just to know that the letter didn’t end up in the garbage or never making it there. If I ever do receive a response I’ll let everyone know here
I’ve been unable to find any info about the prison job that would shorten her sentence but I did read that unfortunately her request to be moved to a detention center/minimum security prison was denied . They only transfer to those facilities for inmates who have a 2 year sentence or less. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24003586-1702,00.html
[Reply]
dan,
I just saw the documentary last night, tears filled my eyes as the verdict was read to Schapelle. For reasons unknown to me I feel so strongly that Schapelle is innocent. My heart aches for her and the Corby family. I have been searching the internet all day trying to find as much information as I could. This has completly consumed my whole heart and mind, its the only thing I can think about. I just keep thinking how this would effect me if it was someone in my family going through this, I think maybe that is why I feel so compeled to do something. Schapelle and the Corby family are in my prayers and thoughts, I hope she is realeased soon.
[Reply]
[...] by dan (This dichotomy is related to this [...]
[...] Sugerido por dan tras conocer la historia de Schapelle Corby. [...]
[...] done a much better job. I have submitted a dichotomy to debate at Justtellmewhy relating to the Schapelle Corby tradgedy that ocurred in 2004. Please click the image to enter your own opinion for either side. You do [...]
[...] are the wrongful convictions of innocent people, men and women who’ve been sentenced to life imprisonment or death for crimes they didn’t commit. He is a web developer located in Toronto, Canada and [...]
Dan,
You’re a sweetheart. Reading your letter, I wished I knew more people like you with a caring and tender heart. As far as Schappelle, I agree that she is certainly a victim of a foreign culture, with poor prospects of being released very soon. However, I have great hopes that when the case dies down in the media, the government of Bali will release her on compassionate terms. She is deeply depressed and has recently been hospitalized and released.
The only thing I objected to in the films portrayal was the biased view that she was incontrovertibly innocent of importing ganja. Her family has had a checkered past, especially the young teen brother who went with her. There are witnesses who claim that he was part of a drug smuggling operation and that they were caught because he didn’t leave the 1000 USD bribe in the bag for the authorities. Who knows? In any event, he has been jailed since Schappelle’s arrest and imprisonment on charges of battery and robbery of a marajuana dealer, and there are reports that her father, uncle and other relatives were exporters, too.
The film touched briefly on these things, but, since she is so lovely, it is hard to feel that it’s possible that she is guilty.
But, consider how unusual it is to travel in the air with a bogey board, to go to places where they are available for cheap rentals, even to buy are cheaper than traveling with them. The plastic bag with the pot was the EXACT size as the bogey-board.
How would corrupt airport smugglers or conspirators manage to find the exact custom-sized cut bag that was meant to lie under the board?
I don’t think Schappelle was the one who owned the board. I think it was her brother’s and she took the heat. What good would it do to turn him in, when the end result would be for both of them to be found guilty, maybe even incorporating more relatives like Mercedes?
I know it’s a pathetic sight to see this sweet lady suffering, but, our xenophobic views of foreign lands and their laws keeps us from using our other powers of observation.
That being said, I don’t think pot should be criminalized, and even if it is, I think it should be a misdemeanor. Serving 20 years for it is ludicrous! Murderers get less punishment.
I hope and pray this young woman gets her freedom soon, and can lead a happy life.
I commend you and your readers for their compassion on their fellow human beings in trouble.
[Reply]
I too think your letter is very sweet and you sound like a very thoughtful, intelligent and kind person. It’s for this reason that I thought I’d share some advice I’ve read again and again about sending a letter to Ms Corby. It sounds almost ridiculous but if you write to her it’s advised (by people who are in a position to know) that you make two or even three carbon copies of your letter and send all of them to her, separately. For whatever reason the prison authorities apparently “lose” some of her mail before it ever reaches her. Sounds a bit ridiculous as I said, but there you have it.
I also want to respond to the previous poster who mentioned there are “reports” and “witnesses” who say Corby is guilty and her family are up to their neck in drug dealing/trafficking. The Australian media seem to have been running a smear campaign against her and her family for several years now; the police release statement after statement saying they have thoroughly investigated every lurid story about her family being involved in the drug trade, and there is no basis or evidence that any such claims/stories are true. (The part about the arrest of her younger brother James is true, but the police actually laughed off all the rest, the claims made by that McCauley guy; about the brother being the real courier, etc. I’m not having a go at you. A drug smuggling scenario involving her brother or one of the other two girls she travelled with isn’t that hard to imagine.)
Also, you ask, “How would corrupt airport smugglers or conspirators manage to find the exact custom-sized cut bag that was meant to lie under the board?”
Cannabis sealed inside a vacuum sealed bag just naturally takes on the exact same shape as whatever its compressed or carried inside. It happens within a short space of time. Had it been stuffed inside a rectangular suitcase, I guarantee it would have taken on the exact same shape too. (It loses the shape just as quickly.)
Finally, for anyone who thinks drugs couldn’t be smuggled the way her defense claimed, this happened at the same airport on the same day and time as Corby passed through:
Accidental Drug Mule - Traffickers hid 10kg of cocaine in tourist’s bag
AN Australian tourist became an unwitting drug mule when 10kg of cocaine was concealed in his luggage without his knowledge.
http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/news-australia/news-aust102.html
[Reply]
Dan (45 comments) Reply:
September 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Hi Anna,
Thank you very much for your comments. Ive resorted to keeping my rebuttals to myself on a number of the comments here in order to keep the peace
Thanks for the tip btw about sending multiple copies. I only sent one hard copy of hte letter and so far no idea whether it was received or not. i will send another few copies and see what happens.
I agree with you 100% in the way you’ve described things. How can a questionable instance of drug smuggling warrant a harsher sentence than a convicted murderer? Hell some of the 9/11 and other terrorists receive lighter sentences than schapelle has received. It is disgusting really.
Drug smuggling is a massive industry and to think that it does not happen on a regular basis at almost any airport in the world is just plain ignorant.
Innocent people get screwed all the time. While the possibility is there that drugs had belonged to her brother or someone she was with at this point it would be pointless for Schapelle to even consider mentioning it because it would in no way secure her release in exchange for that information…. it would only land more people in jail.
If she is protecting her brother.. .. its what story books are made of.
Yes her brother is a questionable dude and unfortunately society now-a-days assumes everyone is guilty by association.
[Reply]
The media(tv and print) in Australia Told some outrageous stories about Ms Corby,all of which proved unfounded.It all stopped when her sister,Mercedes, sued a major muck-raker show—-and won.its rumoured to have cost the station well over 5 million,with another station,peddling,simular tripe,deciding to settle out of court
[Reply]
I too was touched and sadened after watching Ganja Queen. This poor girls’s struggle also caused me to feel compelled to write to her, I like you, do not know what to say to her other than I believe in her and pray everyday that the real criminals will be brought to justice!! I don’t know why her story is only now being heard, but I hope that my letters and those of others are enough to keep her going!!!
[Reply]
It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn New York, I wrapped up my chores, and decided to sit down and watch something– simply by chance, it was Corby’s story. I have never been touched quite like this before.
I was immediately drawn into the story-one reason is that it is one of my biggest fears of traveling. Family and friends laugh at me when I tell them that I shake, and my heart beats a little faster, when the airport people ask me if I packed my own bags. I always fear the worst– what if, by chance my bag was picked by a drug trafficker? I watch the taxi cab drivers, the hotel concierge,
Innocent or guilty, drawn in by a family member — I am not in the position to judge. However, I think there is enough doubt and there were enough errors by the authorities, that this beautiful, young women should not pay the price with her life. What a horror! And, I know there are many innocent people caught up in the faulty criminal systems throughout the world - not sure why she touched my heart - but she did.
I am a Hollywood ending type of person, and expected the verdict to read Innocent. I am not a political person. I usually stay quiet, and hope change will happen. But this may be different.
[Reply]
Good information. Thank you for your help!
[Reply]
Nice letter. You’re brave. I hope she gets her freedom soon.
[Reply]
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