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| Corby’s condition explained |
Kay Danes – Advocate Foreign Prisoner Support Service – 29 August 2009
In response to the article in the Australian, “Doctor confirms Corby condition” by Deborah Cassrels | August 29, 2009, I think that there is an excellent opportunity here for Indonesia to exercise due diligence in providing duty of care by transferring Schapelle Corby to the Bangli Mental Hospital, as suggested by both Dr. Thong and Dr. Phillips.
On 23rd December 2000, whilst working as security managers in Laos, my husband was abducted by Laos secret police and taken to an undisclosed location, where he endured brutal interrogations. The Laos authorities had tried forcing him into signing a false statement against one of his clients, whom they were seeking to illegally nationalise. When my husband refused to cooperate, the authorities arrested me. For the 11 months that followed that harrowing ordeal, we were detained in a prison camp in complete isolation from family, and in violation of our human and civil rights.
During the latter part of our detainment, I began experiencing ‘depression with psychotic symptoms’. There were occasions that I convinced myself that I heard voices of dead people whispering in my ear, and at other times, that my own shadow was working with the secret police to manipulate me into signing a false statement against our client. It was all rather bizarre and a little frightening which prompted the Australian Embassy doctor to prescribe me anti-depressants. Despite the fact that I had strong support from my government and their belief that we were innocent pawns in a political power play, I still found the conditions of the prison often intolerable.
Perhaps the most frustrating part, aside from being robbed of my freedom, tortured and isolated from our three small children, was the fact that we were in an environment that presented both cultural and language challenges. It is maddening to face every day knowing that the only way to ensure your needs are met, is by communicating with others in another language. Given that I was unable to communicate with my own husband, I was forced to become a whole other person.
Most Australian prisoners detained overseas learn very quickly, as I did, that they must adapt to language and culture as a mechanism for survival. Taking care of the mind is primarily important since it is on par for course that when you are detained in a foreign prison, you begin to become conditioned, often subliminally, to your environment. In my case, though vastly different from Schapelle Corby’s, I didn’t even realise when it was that I had stopped thinking in English because my mind automatically began reprogramming itself to think in Lao language.
After our eventual release from Laos, after our government successfully secured an unprecedented Presidential Pardon, my mind had to struggle with reversing all that it had programmed itself to do. I would say to my sister ‘Where you now?’ Instead of ‘where are you now?’
One of the many things I have learnt through my experiences as a former detainee, and as an advocate for the Foreign Prisoner Support Services, is that it is not necessarily the actual conditions that affect a prisoner’s mental health, but rather, the prisoner’s ability to process their circumstances and their environment. After all, a person can be detained in the most luxurious surroundings but in the absence of their freedom, those surroundings can become a hell.
It is also the actual exposure to stress and how that stress is managed that can affect the mental health of prisoners detained overseas. Where there is a constant roller-coaster ride of emotion, it is inevitable that the prisoner’s mental health may steadily decline and if left untreated, become more serious. These constant rushes of adrenaline, based on hope, make it virtually impossible for the prisoner to stabilise and rationalise their situation, particularly, when they are constantly being led to believe that their freedom is imminent. Depression and psychosis are illnesses that many prisoners face at some point in their internment, and can be exacerbated in a foreign prison, but need not be fatal if managed through early intervention.
The bottom line in all of this, is that where it can be proved that a prisoner is suffering a severe mental illness, then that prisoner should be provided proper medical care and treatment in an appropriate and secure mental health facility. The main challenge for any detaining State, whether it is here in Australia or elsewhere, is foremost that prisoners are physically secured, and secondly that they receive an appropriate standard of care. Both Dr. Thong and Dr. Phillips have both suggested that the Indonesians should consider transferring Schapelle Corby to the Bangli Mental Hospital. Ideally, given that she is a foreigner, though not suggesting any preferential treatment should be given as such, it is obvious that she is struggling with cultural and language difficulties which in turn, hinder her ability to cope with foreign internment. This, coupled with the fact that those around her are, perhaps, unwittingly compounding the situation, by constantly building false hopes for imminent release, then under such extenuating circumstances, consideration should be given to her being repatriated to an Australian Justice health facility where she can receive care in a familiar but secure environment without the associated challenges as described.
Both the Australian and Indonesian Governments will no doubt be tested in properly dealing with this case, given that the number of Australians arrested overseas has increased by 38 per cent in the past five years, and the families of those 250+ who have been convicted and sentenced, will also no doubt be watching with heightened interest, as to how this case unfolds.
Kay Danes
International Humanitarian
Foreign Prisoner Support Service
'It is our Right 2 Human Rights.'
Author Website: www.kaydanes.com
Families Behind Bars; Stories of Injustice, Endurance and Hope (New Holland Publishers)
Standing Ground; An Imprisoned Couple’s Struggle for Justice Against A Communist Regime (New Holland Publishers)
Article Copyright Kay Danes 2009 - No reprint or reference in part or whole without permission from the author
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| Advocate Responds to: Corby's release hinges on agreement: PM |
August 31, 2009 -
FPSS Advocate Kay Danes writes:
Certainly as advocates for prisoners detained overseas, we have been aware of the ongoing difficulties that the Australian Government has faced in relation to brokering a prisoner transfer agreement with Indonesia. The main sticking points as we know it are that Indonesia requires prisoners to serve at least half of their sentence in the jurisdiction in which the offences were committed (Indonesia), and the remainder of that sentence in the receiving State (Australia); and that persons on death row, terrorists and persons convicted of drug offences are to be excluded from any such agreement.
In the event Indonesia lifts the latter condition, then Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence will still have a further 5 years to serve before they can qualify for the first condition of the agreement. Let us not however, forget the five other Australians detained in Kerobokan who currently have no chance of repatriation under the present conditions - Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen, Tan Duc Than Nguyen, Martin Stephens and Michael Czugaj. Certainly their families would welcome an agreement that would enable their children to return home.
There is a great deal at stake in negotiating this particular Prisoner Transfer Agreement, and least of all, we should give consideration to the fact that we also have three young Australians currently on death row in Bali; Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
In so far as the finalisation of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, I would like to see the Australian and Indonesian governments continue in a dialogue that supports the repatriation of all Australians currently detained in Indonesia, to correctional facilities in their respective states, whereby they would be able to access appropriate rehabilitative and offender management programs.
Prisoner Transfer Agreements are important for social rehabilitation, which as we now know through research, is more likely to occur in the prisoner’s home country, where the prisoner is able to be closer to family and within their own culture. The benefits of transferring to a modern, Western facility usually means that prisoners have access to rehabilitation and custodial programs, educational and employment opportunities, more hygienic living conditions and a cultural and linguistic environment that is familiar. Medical care and mental health services are also beneficial to prisoners and factor high on a prisoner’s priorities, particularly when you consider that a simple toothache left unattended in an Asian prison can result in extreme pain and additional complications.
What people need to also consider, is that prisoners do not have an automatic right to make application for transfer. There are usually a number of pre-existing conditions. For example: if a prisoner makes application, either State can refuse their request without giving any reason. Transfer applications often take a long time to process. Transfers are almost always consensual, requiring the agreement of the transferring country, the receiving country and the prisoner. Application for Transfers are generally only options for prisoners who express remorse, show consistent good behaviour, are respectful to authorities, and accept and surrender to rehabilitation.
Prisoner transfers are not ‘get out of jail free cards’. Prisoners are treated as any other federal prisoner so the sentence imposed by the detaining State does not change. Prisoners can still appeal for Pardons, clemency and can still benefit from remissions however, despite them being detained on home soil, but these decisions are made by the detaining State. For example; Deborah Spinner and Jane McKenzie were transferred under the PTA between Thailand and Australia. These two prisoners were eventually Pardoned.
The Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Thailand has led to further bilateral treaties with Hong Kong and Cambodia. Our Government has also entered into a multilateral treaty that covers around 60 countries.
What does it mean to our tax payers? There are many financial benefits for taxpayers who will no longer pay the ongoing costs of a prisoner’s incarceration in a foreign jail. Transferring prisoners from overseas reduces the demand on assistance provided by consular posts to citizens. Some prisoners are detained in isolated locations and the costs of travel to and from these locations are high. Of course, there are tremendous financial savings to families too, who often struggle with costs of travelling for visits, and maintaining basic food and medical supplies for their loved one detained abroad. On average, it costs $250 per day to maintain a foreign national in an Australian prison. Australian authorities are currently processing approximately 75 applications for Prisoner transfers out of Australian prisons. This would result in a saving to Australian tax payers of approximately $7 million dollars over one year.
We cannot simply say ‘Leave them there, why should we pay’ or ‘Do the time, do the crime’ because even by leaving these young Australians in Indonesia, we as taxpayers are paying one way or another and it would be far better to repatriate them because as young as they were at the time of their arrest, they will still be fairly young at the time of their release. Research has shown that prisoners who maintain contact with their family and/or solid networks of positive support, are less likely to re-offend. Reintegration is difficult and sadly a number of people do re-offend, but with proper rehabilitation and access to offender management programs, access to support networks and a little understanding, there is always a good chance that a prisoner will find a better path in life.
In regards to Schapelle Corby, I believe it is as her Doctor stated, that her situation is such that it certainly creates a great deal of concern, but one that can improve with appropriate care and treatment . These issues are two completely separate matters and careful consideration must be given to both, in the context in which they relate. The Prisoner Transfer Agreement is something that affects all Australians detained in Indonesia, both currently and in the future.
Kay Danes
International Humanitarian
Foreign Prisoner Support Service
'It is our Right 2 Human Rights.'
Author Website: www.kaydanes.com
Families Behind Bars; Stories of Injustice, Endurance and Hope (New Holland Publishers)
Standing Ground; An Imprisoned Couple’s Struggle for Justice Against A Communist Regime (New Holland Publishers)
Article Copyright Kay Danes 2009 - No reprint or reference in part or whole without permission from the author
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| Schapelle Corby: mind matters |
By Kay Danes, Advocate, Foreign Prisoner Support Service
With Schapelle Corby's health obviously suffering in a Bali jail, the Australian Government must step up efforts for a prisoner exchange agreement with Indonesia, possibly based on emergency mental health grounds in her case. Kay Danes, who has been through foreign imprisonment unjustly, explains how the mind's roller coaster runs awry.
In response to the article in The Australian, “Doctor confirms Corby condition” by Deborah Cassrels, August 29, 2009, I think that there is an excellent opportunity here for Indonesia to exercise due diligence in providing duty of care by transferring Schapelle Corby to the Bangli Mental Hospital, as suggested by both Dr. Thong and Dr. Phillips.
On 23 December 2000, whilst working as security managers in Laos, my husband was abducted by Laos secret police and taken to an undisclosed location, where he endured brutal interrogations. The Laos authorities had tried forcing him into signing a false statement against one of his clients, whom they were seeking to illegally nationalise. When my husband refused to cooperate, the authorities arrested me. For the 11 months that followed that harrowing ordeal, we were detained in a prison camp in complete isolation from family, and in violation of our human and civil rights.
During the latter part of our detainment, I began experiencing ‘depression with psychotic symptoms’. There were occasions that I convinced myself that I heard voices of dead people whispering in my ear, and at other times, that my own shadow was working with the secret police to manipulate me into signing a false statement against our client. It was all rather bizarre and a little frightening which prompted the Australian Embassy doctor to prescribe me anti-depressants. Despite the fact that I had strong support from my government and their belief that we were innocent pawns in a political power play, I still found the conditions of the prison often intolerable.
Perhaps the most frustrating part, aside from being robbed of my freedom, tortured and isolated from our three small children, was the fact that we were in an environment that presented both cultural and language challenges. It is maddening to face every day knowing that the only way to ensure your needs are met, is by communicating with others in another language. Given that I was unable to communicate with my own husband, I was forced to become a whole other person.
Most Australian prisoners detained overseas learn very quickly, as I did, that they must adapt to language and culture as a mechanism for survival. Taking care of the mind is primarily important since it is par for the course that when you are detained in a foreign prison, you begin to become conditioned, often subliminally, to your environment. In my case, though vastly different from Schapelle Corby’s, I didn’t even realise when it was that I had stopped thinking in English because my mind automatically began reprogramming itself to think in Lao language.
After our eventual release from Laos, after our government successfully secured an unprecedented Presidential Pardon, my mind had to struggle with reversing all that it had programmed itself to do. I would say to my sister ‘Where you now?’ Instead of ‘where are you now?’
One of the many things I have learnt through my experiences as a former detainee, and as an advocate for the Foreign Prisoner Support Services, is that it is not necessarily the actual conditions that affect a prisoner’s mental health, but rather the prisoner’s ability to process their circumstances and their environment. After all, a person can be detained in the most luxurious surroundings but in the absence of their freedom, those surroundings can become a hell.
It is also the actual exposure to stress and how that stress is managed that can affect the mental health of prisoners detained overseas. Where there is a constant roller-coaster ride of emotion, it is inevitable that the prisoner’s mental health may steadily decline and if left untreated, become more serious. These constant rushes of adrenaline, based on hope, make it virtually impossible for the prisoner to stabilise and rationalise their situation, particularly when they are constantly being led to believe that their freedom is imminent. Depression and psychosis are illnesses that many prisoners face at some point in their internment, and can be exacerbated in a foreign prison, but need not be fatal if managed through early intervention.
The bottom line in all of this is that, where it can be proved that a prisoner is suffering a severe mental illness, then that prisoner should be provided proper medical care and treatment in an appropriate and secure mental health facility. The main challenge for any detaining State, whether it is here in Australia or elsewhere, is foremost that prisoners are physically secured, and secondly that they receive an appropriate standard of care. Both Dr. Thong and Dr. Phillips have both suggested that the Indonesians should consider transferring Schapelle Corby to the Bangli Mental Hospital. Ideally, given that she is a foreigner, though not suggesting any preferential treatment should be given as such, it is obvious that she is struggling with cultural and language difficulties which, in turn, hinder her ability to cope with foreign internment. This, coupled with the fact that those around her are, perhaps, unwittingly compounding the situation by constantly building false hopes for imminent release, then under such extenuating circumstances, consideration should be given to her being repatriated to an Australian Justice health facility where she can receive care in a familiar but secure environment without the associated challenges as described.
Both the Australian and Indonesian Governments will no doubt be tested in properly dealing with this case, given that the number of Australians arrested overseas has increased by 38% in the past five years, and the families of those 250+ who have been convicted and sentenced, will also no doubt be watching with heightened interest, as to how this case unfolds.
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