The notorious prison for Schapelle Corby and Bali Nine

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

With the recent news that Schapelle Corby may have been set up, we go inside the infamous "Hotel Kerobokan", Bali's most notorious prison. It earns its name from the fact inmates can pay off the guards to get services such as sex and drugs, but more so because international lawbreakers are constantly checking in and out. It is currently holding more than three times the maximum capacity it was designed for, and houses such Aussie "guests" as Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine.

Kathryn Bonella, author of Hotel Kerobokan and Schapelle Corby's autobiography My Story, unearthed the shocking inside story of Bali's notorious jail.

Life in 'Hotel K'
Bonella's research found that the harsh reality of life inside "Hotel K" is of widespread drug use, prostitution and violence. Many inmates were convicted of acts of extreme violence which they continued inside. And there was no segregation of inmates for their crimes, so a tourist caught with one ecstasy pill at a nightclub would be packed into a cement cell alongside murderers and drug lords.

Corruption
Bonella writes that corruption is rife, with prisoners able to pay guards to smuggle drugs, organise women for their entertainment, organise a cell upgrade to a private or less crowded cell and deliver to their cell door anything from McDonald's to a gourmet meal from their favourite restaurant. Many international inmates can bribe the right guard to slip outside and go to the beach.

Inmates
Hotel Kerobokan's filthy and disease-ridden cells include a "United Nations" of prisoners, including Australians, Americans, Germans, Brazilians, French, English and Italians crushed together in misery. Many were tourists who'd been enjoying life in tropical paradise until they got caught, usually for drugs. A Brazilian surfer told Bonella "I fell from heaven to earth in the blink of an eye."

Squalor
Each crammed stinky cell has a single squat toilet for inmates to share, Bonella says. They tend to block up and spew out sewerage and rats and mozzies are also a familiar yet unwelcome sight.

Notorious cells named tikus ("rat cells") are feared by inmates. As a form of punishment, Bonella writes they're stripped down to their undies and locked inside for months at a time. Several have died from AIDS and tuberculosis while imprisoned in the isolated, filthy area. Scott Rush spent a month inside one.

Hotel Kerobokan by Kathryn Bonella is published by Pan Macmillan and is on sale now at leading bookstores.

Your say: Do you think the Bali Nine and Schapelle Corby should serve their sentences in Australia instead of Kerobokan?

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I APPLIED TO THE SINGAPOREAN GOVERNMENT, A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, FOR THE JOB OF HANGMAN WHEN THEIR HANGMAN, (MR. SINGH) WAS RETIREING. I AM GOING TO APPLY FOR A POSITION WITH THE INDONESIAN GOVT. TO BE A TEMPORY MEMBER OF THEIR FIRING SQUAD. NO DEALER IN DEATH (DRUGS) HAS THE RIGHT TO LIVE, WHILE THEY GO AROUND, ENJOYING LIFE AND LUXUARY ON THEIR DEATH MONEY. EVERYONE WHO TAKES PART IN DEALING DEATH (DRUGS) DESERVES TO DIE AT THE HANDS OF A LEGAL DEATH SENTENCE. INDONESIA WILL LOSE ITS CREDIBILITY WITH THE WORLD, IF IT BACKS DOWN ON ITS DEATH SENTENCES. IF IT DOES, IT WILL THEN BE DREDITED WITH BEING GUTLESS, WEAK AS DOGS URINE AND BOWING TO THE PRESSURE OF DO-GOODERS (WHO ALSO HAVE NO RIGHT IN OUR SOCIETY). WHATEVER THEIR JAIL SENTENCES WERE OR ARE THEY MUST REMAIN TO BE CARRIED OUT. I HAVE NO TIME FOR DRUG DEALERS NOR THE PATHETICALLY WEAK MINDED PEOPLE WHO USE THE DRUGS. DRUG USERS ARE PATHETIC MISFITS IN SOCIETY, WHILE THE DEALERS ARE DEALERS OF DEATH AND MUST PAY THE PRICE.

i now work a lot with children who have had similar backgrounds to myself. young men most of our people have given up on. after all i have experienced myself and all i have witnessed through the eyes of others it has given me an insight into what changes can take place if a chance is given. i am indeed fortunate to live in a country where that is possable. these chances have made me the 'good man' i am today and have made possable for me to witness changes take place in others like me....good people. our sons and our daughters. do not judge others until you yourself have done a mile or so wearing their shoes and when you do, i gaurantee your opinions will change. sorry for the spelling and bad punctuation

i am an ex-heroin user and was in the heart of addiction for at least twenty years. when i look back over my life and the mistakes i made, the people i hurt and most importantly, the damage done to myself, it feels like a distant nightmare from where i sit today. i have been in five jail institutions within queensland and have come to know this system well. some have said my addiction was my choise. some have said it was always destined a certainty haveing had my cruel upbringing. whatever the reasons for my dimise i am sure every person has their own opinion. but that is all you have......an opinion and not my reality. god forbid you posess my reality, for if you did, i am sure your opinion would change from the one you have now. today i am forty years old with a beautiful wife and two fine sons who love and need me dearly and i believe myself to be a good man. I think of others before myself and am active in all sorts of charity work, especially with children who have come from-

Those who choose to smuggle drugs into or out of a country know the risks they take. They were caught and are now paying the penalty. Time we got tough here as well, but we would not run our prisons in the same disgusting way as they do in Indonesia. We are more civilized and humanitarian than that. For the life of me I cannot understand why people want to holiday in Bali. They risk disease for one thing. Most will suffer "Bali Belly" for a start. I think the younger generation , including drug users, do not think of the consequences of their actions. Why should the rest of us feel sorry for these criminals ? They chose to do the crime in spite of knowing the risks they took. They deserve their punishment. They are now living in the squalor of their own making. Drugs are responsible for all kinds of problems including suicide and mental illness. Anyone guilty of selling or smuggling them can also be unintentionally guilty of causing someone's death.

I cannot see for the life of me, why people want to bring these Aussie drug smugglers back home to serve their sentences.They have convicted of smuggeling drugs into a foreign country and therefore must serve their sentence in that country. Life may be hard for them but no harder than the unfortunant life those addicted to this drug menace live. If we were to adopt the same attitude as these countries do, we might see a fall of drugs brought into this countryThe people involved in the detection of drug imports into Australia do a good job but the sentences handed down by the courts are soft compared to overseas sentences. These people committed their crimes overseas, let them serve their time in the country they offended.

come on people, people make mistakes to be shot for it a little over the top do the time for sure but death thought we had come further than that and you all seem to agree with this scarry what if your kid made one stupid mistake like that then it would be a different story

I think that the Bali 9 should stay in Kerobokan, they had the drugs strapped to them, so they cant say that they didnt do it... why should they get lenient sentences... Schapelle Corby should be set free, there is no proof that the drugs found in her boogie board were hers, my thoughts are that schapelle deserves to be free to come home, people that have the drugs strapped to them deserve to serve there sentences, but back to schapelle, please free her as what proof do you have over there in indonesia... i cant believe yo would have people in a filthy disgusting prison, this is 2010 not back in 1976, when the prison was built...

Don't take pity on these people. They knew what they were getting themselves into so they should do the time. As for the Bali Nine, heroin smuggling feeds peoples addictions and can even KILL people. Too bad they were only concerned about making money.

if we had tough laws on drug trafficking, people would think a zilion time before smuggling drugs into our societies. and why shall we bring them here? they committed their crimes abroad, let them serve their sentences abroad...we don't need to spend our tax money on them....

I have visited Bali on many occasions and the Indonesian government needs to take a hard look at itself, regarding human life and what it stands for. The level of education for the people of Indo and Govt. systems in Indonesia needs to greatly improve, the Indonesian Govt. is cruel to their own and corrupt in many cases and unjust in their treatment of human beings. If the police in Bali operated the same way in Europe, USA, Australia our lives would be hectic, corrupt, uncivilised with extremely high levels of poverty and you can guarantee, absolutley no assistance from the government, they are collectors of monetary funds NOT givers. All western world people need to think hard about all the governments of third world countries if you're a visitor, because life is not easy......be careful and watch your bag!

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