SCHAPELLE CORBY FINDS BEAUTY WITHIN THE FOUR WALLS

SCHAPELLE Corby doesn't think about the world outside the walls of her
Bali jail often any more and says she no longer has much hope she will
be freed any time soon.

But with tears welling in her eyes during an exclusive interview
outside her cell at Bali's Kerobokan Jail yesterday, she told how she
still puts make-up on every day to make herself feel better.

And she showed the intricate beaded necklaces and bracelets she makes
to fill in time and keep active.

The Courier-Mail was granted rare access yesterday to the jail and to
the women's block where Corby and fellow Australian, Renae Lawrence of
the Bali Nine, are held.

For the most part, Corby was cheerful when asked about how she is
coping, her hopes for the future, her health and her feelings. But, at
times, her eyes filled with tears and she struggled not to cry.

"I don't think about out there any more," the 31-year-old
said.

Asked if she still had any hopes that she would be free soon or that
evidence might surface to help prove her innocence of drugs charges,
Corby again struggled with tears: "Not really."

But she revealed she "always, always" puts on make-up every day to
help her feel better.

"You feel so ugly in here. It is the same as if you have ugly
underwear. If you have a shower and put on nice underwear you feel
nice," Corby said.

It is now almost a year since Corby was admitted to hospital for two
weeks suffering severe depression and she is still on medication to
help her cope.

She admits to being up and down, to forgetting things.

A beauty therapy student before her arrest in October 2004 and her
later conviction and 20-year sentence for attempting to bring 4.1 kg
of marijuana to Bali from Australia, Corby has asked prison
authorities for permission to run a beauty salon in the jail, training
other female prisoners.

The proposal is currently being considered by prison
authorities.

Under the proposal, prisoners would be trained in Australian
techniques by performing treatments on "clients" who would be guards
or other prisoners.

Corby would pay for the products from beauty salon suppliers, and
would eventually charge a minimal fee of $1 or so per treatment in
order to cover costs.

"We are all bored, we need something to do," she said.

In her cell, shared with five others, she has a tall plastic set of
drawers, full of beads and wire and silver to make necklaces,
bracelets, earrings and other types of jewellery.

Outside the cell, she has a small garden, where she grows chillis,
daisies, sunflowers, green beans and pumpkins.

"I don't really have a green thumb," she says, explaining that fellow
Australian Lawrence has a much better vegetable garden around the corner.