CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby should be thankful she is being transferred to a prison in east Java, Bali prison governor Ilham Djaya said today. The governor of Kerobokan Prison - the man who requested Corby's transfer - said the inmate should be thankful she is going to a "better prison''.

Corby described the prison she is currently in as a "disgusting slum'' in her recent autobiography.

Mr Djaya said Corby had made some efforts to stop the transfer, and admitted that some people had pleaded with him to cancel the move.

"If she likes it here so much, why would she write that the toilet in the prison is gruesome, that the warden sexually harassed the inmates?'' Mr Djaya said.

Corby also complained of being unable to exercise on the prison's tennis court, he said.

"If she cannot do some sports here, in there (Sukun prison) she can run around 20 laps if she likes," Mr Djaya said.

He said the transfer would be a positive move.

"We are thinking positive for her, trying to provide a better system that would create a better person,'' Mr Djaya said.

In her book My Story launched in November, Corby describes the prison "Hotel Kerobokan'', as a "dark hell hole'' with no running water or power, with easy access for rats and snakes.

"We were living in a disgusting slum, in the most vile and unhygienic conditions imaginable,'' Corby wrote.

"It was not fit for human beings, it was not fit for a dog.

"It made me sick, I threw up often, had non-stop diarrhoea and persistent ear infections.''

Mr Djaya, who has Corby's book on a shelf in his office, admitted to reading it but would not say what he thought of it.

Corby's soon-to-be new home Sukun Prison in Malang, East Java, is the closest women's prison to Kerobokan, but is still hundreds of kilometres away.

While she now lives in a cell with eight to 10 inmates, her new cell will be more spacious with only two or three inmates, Mr Djaya said.

The former student beautician has a sister, Mercedes, who lives in Bali and provides her with food and other amenities.

Australian tourists also visit, offering support, food and other trinkets.

Prison department officials said Corby could be transferred anytime. However, authorities are awaiting funding from Jakarta.

The transfer was requested by the prison governor to the directorate general of prisons in Jakarta.

Transfer requests are generally made because the prison is overcrowded or for security reasons.

Kerobokan Prison currently has 838 prisoners, even though its capacity is for only 323 inmates. Corby is one of 238 prisoners to be moved from the facility.

Indonesian prisoners cannot reject their transfer unless they have solid reasons to halt it, Mr Djaya said.