Schapelle Corby's jail sentence cut

Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby. Photo / AP

Australian drug traffickers Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence have both received five-month sentence cuts as part of Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations.

The head of Bali's Kerobokan Prison, Siswanto, told reporters on Tuesday the Australian prisoners received the remissions for good behaviour.

"Renae and Corby got five months' remission. I just got the letter from the justice ministry this morning," Siswanto said.

"They received their remission because they have been behaving well so far."

Both Corby and Lawrence are serving 20-year sentences, but Corby has now received 17 months' remission in total, while Lawrence has had 23 months and 15 days shaved off her sentence.

When asked about Corby's chances of receiving clemency, Siswanto said it was still under consideration.

"The clemency is still under process. I haven't had the confirmation," he said.

"Clemency would only be given to convicted who are permanently sick, geriatric and children. That would be the priority for clemency."

Supreme court officials last month confirmed a judge had considered Corby's plea for presidential clemency and written a recommendation on her case to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Corby's family renewed its fight to have the convicted drug smuggler returned to Australia last year after a psychiatrist warned she would not survive her sentence if she remained in Kerobokan Prison.

Associate Professor Jonathan Phillips, the former president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, visited Corby in prison last August and said she was "hanging on by a thread".

However, Siswanto told reporters on Tuesday that Corby must be examined by an official government doctor.

"The doctor who examined the convicted must be an official government doctor, not outside doctor who just came to visit," he said.

Corby did not attend the Independence Day ceremony at the prison on Tuesday, but Lawrence did - and was part of the choir.

Indonesia traditionally cuts jail terms on independence day and some religious holidays for well-behaved prisoners who have served at least six months, and are not sentenced to life in prison or death.

Corby, 33, 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.

Lawrence was sentenced to 20 years' jail for her role in the failed Bali Nine plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.

- AAP