The 36-year-old convicted drugs smuggler walked out of the jail’s front door at 8.15am local time (11.15am AEDT) this morning wearing a scarf around her head and a hat.
She kept her head down as she was met by a media scrum and was forced to fight her way through dozens of TV cameramen, photographers and reporters desperate to get that valuable first photo of Australia’s most famous prisoner.
Schapelle’s parole papers were reportedly delivered to Kerobokan yesterday and they were signed and stamped by prison officials this morning, resulting in an earlier release than had been anticipated.
A blacked-out police van escorted Schapelle from the prison to the Denpesar prosecutor’s office to get another signature on her paperwork and have her fingerprints taken. Officials later reported she was crying during the procedure, reportedly from the “trauma” of fighting through the media pack.
She was then ferried to the corrections office for the final signature that will officially begin her parole period.
Schapelle then swapped the police van for a private black one that will take her to a remote and secure villa that has reportedly been rented for one month by her sister Mercedes Corby and her husband Wayan Widyartha.
She will lay low there for the first four weeks of her parole period, mulling her next move and considering which media offers she will accept.
She will reportedly be guarded there by private security services who will try to keep hundreds of reporters away.
Although Schapelle will no longer be imprisoned she will have to obey the strict conditions of her parole, which dictate that she must live with her Indonesian brother-in-law and sister Mercedes until July 2017.
During this time, Schapelle will be required to check-in monthly with BAPAS – the Balinese corrections authority managing her parole and monitoring her release.
