NEWCASTLE’S Renae Lawrence will be released from prison on November 21. The 41-year-old will become the first member of the Bali Nine drug trafficking group to be released, more than 12 years after she was put behind bars. Slamet Prihantoro, the head of Bali provincial correction division, told Fairfax Media that "Renae Lawrence's release date is the 21st of November". "On that day she will be handed over to immigration for her deportation. As for when she will fly back to Australia, that will be up to immigration. Once we hand her over, she will no longer be our responsibility," he said. It is likely that Lawrence will be deported on the same day, or the next day, to Australia. Lawrence’s father told the Newcastle Herald on Monday night that the family knew for some times his daughter would be released in November. “We knew ages ago she was getting out on the 21st,” Bob Lawrence said. “She just wants to come home and get on with her life. We hope everyone respects her wishes.” Lawrence was originally sentenced to life imprisonment for her role as a drug mule in 2005 attempting to smuggle more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin to Australia - but that sentence was later reduced to 20 years. Since being imprisoned, however, Ms Lawrence has enjoyed a series of reductions in her sentence that are handed down in Indonesia twice a year, on both religious holidays and the country's Independence Day. She was originally serving time in the notorious Kerobokan prison, but was then moved to the Negara prison, and finally to Bangli prison. She is the only member of the Bali Nine who - at this point in time - will be set free from prison. Su Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens are all serving life sentences in jail. Four of those five members of the Bali Nine - Chen, Czugaj, Norman and Stephens - have been submitting applications each year since 2012 to change their life sentences to a fixed prison term. Rush has not. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were considered to be the ring leaders of the operation that had attempted to bring a total of 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia to Australia, were executed on April 29, 2015, for their role in the operation. The final member of the Bali Nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in June 2018. To deal with the isolation and daily difficulties of prison, Lawrence said she had taken to gardening as a form of therapy.
The 41-year-old will become the first member of the Bali Nine drug trafficking group to be released, more than 12 years after she was put behind bars.
Slamet Prihantoro, the head of Bali provincial correction division, told Fairfax Media that "Renae Lawrence's release date is the 21st of November".
"On that day she will be handed over to immigration for her deportation. As for when she will fly back to Australia, that will be up to immigration. Once we hand her over, she will no longer be our responsibility," he said.
It is likely that Lawrence will be deported on the same day, or the next day, to Australia.
Lawrence’s father told the Newcastle Herald on Monday night that the family knew for some times his daughter would be released in November.
“We knew ages ago she was getting out on the 21st,” Bob Lawrence said.
“She just wants to come home and get on with her life. We hope everyone respects her wishes.”
Lawrence was originally sentenced to life imprisonment for her role as a drug mule in 2005 attempting to smuggle more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin to Australia - but that sentence was later reduced to 20 years.
Since being imprisoned, however, Ms Lawrence has enjoyed a series of reductions in her sentence that are handed down in Indonesia twice a year, on both religious holidays and the country's Independence Day.
She was originally serving time in the notorious Kerobokan prison, but was then moved to the Negara prison, and finally to Bangli prison.
She is the only member of the Bali Nine who - at this point in time - will be set free from prison.
Su Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens are all serving life sentences in jail.
Four of those five members of the Bali Nine - Chen, Czugaj, Norman and Stephens - have been submitting applications each year since 2012 to change their life sentences to a fixed prison term. Rush has not.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were considered to be the ring leaders of the operation that had attempted to bring a total of 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia to Australia, were executed on April 29, 2015, for their role in the operation.
The final member of the Bali Nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in June 2018.
To deal with the isolation and daily difficulties of prison, Lawrence said she had taken to gardening as a form of therapy.
