Pubdate: Thu, 25 Mar 2004
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2004 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/australia (Australia)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/thailand (Thailand)

DRUG PRISONERS ARRIVE BACK IN AUST

SYDNEY (AAP) -- Two Australian women jailed in Thailand for heroin 
smuggling flew into Sydney this morning under a prison transfer scheme. 
Jane Dawson McKenzie, 38, and Deborah Letitia Spinner, 36, were sentenced 
to 50 years in a Thai prison in 1997 after being caught trying to smuggle 
115 grams of heroin to Australia from Bangkok.

The women arrived at Sydney Airport on the 6.25am (AEDT) Qantas flight from 
Bangkok via London. A Corrective Services spokesman said both women would 
complete normal immigration and customs procedures in a secure location at 
the airport before being transferred to Mullawa women's prison.

The women were escorted from Thailand by four prison officers and a number 
of flight marshals. McKenzie and Spinner will serve five years in the 
Sydney jail before being eligible for parole, after having spent seven 
years in Bangkok's notorious Klong Prem women's prison.

When convicted in 1997, the women faced the death penalty but their 
sentences were commuted to 50 years' jail when they pleaded guilty.

Both have said the most difficult part of their jail terms had been the 
separation from their children. Just last month, Spinner said she had not 
been able to sleep some nights because she longed to see her two children, 
whom she had not seen for eight years.

The women were caught with Sydney man Lyle Doniger at Bangkok Airport in 
March 1996, trying to board a flight to Sydney with heroin filled condoms 
in their bodies. Doniger was freed two years ago after being pardoned by 
the Thai king.

The women's return to Australia, announced a fortnight ago by NSW Justice 
Minister John Hatzistergos, came under a new international prisoner 
transfer scheme.
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