Schapelle Corby 'insane', could die

BALI, Indonesia: Schapelle Corby’s reaction captured after being sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined 100M Rupiah (NZ$17,000 approx). Corby was found guilty of importing marijuana into Indonesia. Photo / Getty Images, Dimas Ardian

BALI - Schapelle Corby's family has renewed its fight to have the convicted drug smuggler returned to Australia after a top psychiatrist warned she will not survive her sentence if she remains in Bali's Kerobokan Prison.

Associate Professor Jonathan Phillips visited Corby in prison earlier this month and says the former beauty student has gone insane and is "hanging on by a thread".

"She is lost in her own bewildering world where fantasy, hallucinations and bizarre ideas dominate her mind," Dr Phillips told New Idea magazine.

Dr Phillips, former president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, says the 32-year-old will continue to deteriorate unless she is moved.

"Even if Schapelle got really good medical treatment in jail the place itself would destroy her, given her now precarious condition," he said.

"I really fear for her. I know from experience that her illness will not get any better in the current situation, and will probably worsen with the risk of calamity."

Dr Phillips says the best option would be to have Corby transferred as a prisoner to Australia and treated in a secure hospital setting.

But that is unlikely to occur while long-running negotiations between Indonesia and Australia over a prisoner transfer deal remain stalled.

Sister Mercedes said Dr Phillips' 20-page report was "terrifying" for the Corby family, who plan to send it to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other political leaders.

"We hope it might finally spur the Australian government into action," she said in a statement on Monday. "We have to get proper treatment for Schapelle, outside a jail environment and preferably in Australia, or she will die. That's what the doctor says and, sadly, I know it's true because Schapelle has already harmed herself twice."

It no longer matters if Schapelle is innocent or guilty, Mercedes said.

"This is about basic humanity. It's a matter of life and death. I'm begging Mr Rudd and anybody else who has the power to help - please bring Schapelle home so she can get well again."

Dr Phillips says he is certain Corby's condition is genuine.

"Let me make it clear, I have been a psychiatrist for many years and I approach my work with proper clinical scepticism. She is not putting this on. She is in the deepest of pain and her personal world is coming apart. Her mind is now playing dreadful tricks on her. She can get no peace because she is sure she is being filmed at all times for bizarre purposes. She sees highly-personalised and critical messages in books, on television and in videos, and she is sure that others are conspiring to end her life."

Corby (32), was sentenced to 20 years jail after she was caught at Bali's airport in October 2004 with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag.

She was last week given a four-month sentence cut as part of Indonesian Independence Day celebrations.

- AAP