Schapelle Corby -- Insane...

Schapelle Corby has been diagnosed as "clinically insane." The diagnosis was made by Dr. Jonathon Phillips, the former president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Dr. Phillips visited Corby in her Bali prison recently to assess her mental state. The assessment was paid for by the New Idea magazine. New Idea claim that they funded the assessment after receiving huge numbers of requests about Corby.

According to Dr. Phillips, Corby is both delusional and paranoid. In lay person's terms she is no longer capable of caring for herself. She is apparently laboring in a world of fantasy and hallucinations, and subject to a mind dominated by some truly bizarre ideas.

Corby's state of mind has deteriorated so much that she has tried to commit suicide, at least, twice. The attempts allegedly involve Corby cutting herself pretty severely. This has lead Dr. Phillips to state that if Corby is faking her illness, then she is a master actor.

The Corby family has sent the results of the evaluation to the Australian Prime Minister and seem set to lobby hard to have Australia make an approach to their Indonesian counterparts with a view to having Corby transferred to a secure facility in Australia. As far as I recall the prisoner transfer agreement between Australia and Indonesia has stalled on a few key points. So, it would seem unlikely that this is going to be a prisoner exchange deal, at least not through a prisoner exchange treaty.

It seems that any claim would be more likely to succeed on compassionate grounds. Simply, make this a humanitarian issue by making an appeal to the humanity of Indonesians. I am not sure that this is a win / win situation. And, even if Indonesia was inclined to release Corby on compassionate grounds, they would be certain to insist on some strict conditions. I would hazard a guess that these would include provisions that would not see Corby immediately released on her return to Australia.

The saga continues.

Postscript...

I have been lead to an article published in The Australian on 29 August 2009.

In essence the article says that Schapelle's psychiatrist in Bali, Dr. Denny Thong, in essence agrees with Dr. Jonathon Phillips that Schapelle has a mental illness. However, according to Dr. Thong, the mental illness is not insanity but depression and bouts of audio and visual hallucinations. Dr. Thong believes that Schapelle can be treated, and is being treated, but he is unsure as to whether Schapelle is taking her medication.

Dr. Thong does not believe this to be a life and death situation. To the contrary, the Dr. recommends that Schapelle be moved to the Bangli Mental Hospital where she can be treated, and then when well enough she can be returned to prison to complete her sentence.

This is the link to the article.

Schapelle Corby Goes to the Salon

Now if the reports that have been coming in over the last couple of days are true then maybe I was right. Maybe Schapelle Corby and her family need to give some serious consideration to not taking advantage of any prisoner transfer deal that might be struck between the governments of Indonesia and Australia.

Having been admitted to hospital for severe depression, hallucinations, and weight loss, and then subsequently being put on suicide watch because her clinical diagnosis suggested that she was a danger to herself, Corby has enjoyed an afternoon at the salon. This would probably be the perfect tonic for a former beauty student.

However, it should be noted that the rumours and gossip are true then the past few days have seen Corby out and about shopping and buying ice cream with family members. The police are apparently accompanying her and the family everywhere. The point though is that if she were to be imprisoned in Australia she would be unlikely to receive such treatment unless she was on some kind of minimum security day release type program.

My guess would be that the psychiatrists (aka shrinks) that are treating her for the depression have decided that some degree of normalcy might help restore her to sufficient health that she can be incarcerated until the next bout of depression takes hold and then the whole show can start over again.

The salon visit was permitted and in an attempt to head off any criticisms the PR machine of the Sanglah Hospital has been quick to point out that the salon in question is within the grounds of the hospital and as such Corby did not leave the grounds of the hospital. The photo is of Corby emerging from the salon and is courtesy of AFP.

It seems that Corby is never that far away from the news. It is almost an industry and it is too bad that she does not get to see any of the profits from it. I understand proceeds of crime and the legislation that accompanies it. But, it is kind of bizarre that the perpetrator cannot profit off of the crime but every man, woman and child can profit off of her misery.

Nevertheless, Corby is becoming a celebrity and the recent screening of the documentary "Ganja Queen" on HBO (if I am not mistaken) in the US may cement this status. For me, and as I have posted many times before, it is about reading the Sunday morning papers after the night before, the scores remain the same. She is a convicted drug trafficker doing 20 years for the crime.

Her hospital stay appears destined to end over the next couple of days and the hospital is reporting that a treatment and medication regime has been designed. So, it will be back to the cold hard slammer that is Kerobohkan Prison and the gremlins that plague her there.

Schapelle Corby -- Suicide Watch

The ongoing Schapelle Corby saga has taken a much more serious and sad turn with Corby being hospitalized for depression and rapid weight loss. Prison is a stressful place I am sure but it would seem that Corby has lost the will to fight after the rejection of her latest appeal. It is easy to say, "if you do the crime, you have to do the time", but if you genuinely believe in your innocence then doing the time must seem very unfair.

The weight loss in itself does not seem to be overly serious provided it does not continue. Having lost 12 kilos in the space of a month when not dieting is a concern but aside from being a little skinny at 5'2" and 45 kilos the weight would not seem to be a physical problem yet.

However, what is probably more of a concern to her family and medical staff are reports of hallucinations and paranoia. Doctors are reporting she is not taking any drugs and the hallucinations and paranoia are the result of emotional responses and not physical ones. What is interesting to me is that Corby was prescribed anti-depressants two weeks ago but by all accounts the hallucinations and paranoia are worsening. Not only worsening but worsening to a point where she is considered a danger to herself and others. She is now on a purportedly 24-hour a day suicide watch.

A psychiatrist, Lely Setyawati, has been brought in to assist with Corby's treatment and has since recommended that Corby be hospitalized indefinitely. Indefinite hospitalization indicates that the problems that Corby has are a little more serious than just having a bad day.

All of these developments are occurring simultaneously with the airing on Channel 9 tonight of a documentary on the Corby case, Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth, which is supposedly going to explode the myths surrounding the case. Considering all the exposure that the case has had in the past it seems a bit of a reach to suggest that there are still lingering issues that have not been examined at some point previously.

With a bit of luck the documentary might get a screening here in Jakarta so that Channel 9 can challenge me and explode the myths surrounding the case (photo by Jason Childs / SMH).