Brenda Martin's mother says her daughter is in a much better mood now that she's out of a Mexican jail and back in Canada.
Marjorie Bletcher saw her daughter for the first time in years at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont. That's where Martin was taken after being flown to Canada from Mexico on Thursday.
Bletcher says her daughter is still getting used to colder Canadian temperatures, but is glad to be closer to her family. Those who helped get Martin out of the Mexican jail, where she had languished for more than two years, say she's just happy to be back in Canada.
"She called me last night and was so excited," said Debra Tieleman, Martin's childhood friend who was instrumental in bringing the case to government and media attention.
Tieleman said Martin told her: "Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to be in Canada. Thank everyone who helped me do this."
Martin received an unexpected prison transfer from Mexico on Thursday afternoon after spending more than two years in a Guadalajara prison. She was convicted of money laundering last month in relation to her former boss's Internet fraud scheme.
Martin was eligible for parole the moment she returned to Canadian soil, according to the National Parole Board.
Parole board spokesperson Nadine Archambault-Chapleau told The Canadian Press that because Martin is a first-time offender serving time for a non-violent crime, she is eligible for an accelerated parole review.
Archambault-Chapleau said Martin's time already served will factor in to her parole eligibility.
"Under the Offender Transfer Act, (it) turns out that she is eligible right away -- as of May 1, 2008, actually," Archambault-Chapleau said.
On Friday, many Canadians had their say about the entire affair, with the majority of callers to talk radio shows believing Martin got preferential treatment because of all the publicity.
"There was a genuine opinion ... that the government went overboard," CFRA Ottawa radio host Steve Madely told Â鶹´«Ã½net's Mike Duffy Live.
Madley's show also conducted a non-scientific Internet poll and 84 per cent of 1,200 people who voted said the government treatment afforded Martin was "way over the top." Many listeners didn't like the fact that she was given a private jet home, and they also wondered if the government will also help hundreds of other Canadians in foreign jails.
A Mexican judge sentenced the 51-year-old Trenton native to a minimum of five years in jail and fined her about $3,500. Ottawa loaned Martin the money to pay the fine.
Martin had spent two years in a Mexican prison before hearing her verdict.
"She seemed a 100 per cent better than she's been in the past few days, although she said she's sort of overwhelmed," Bletcher had said Thursday. "She's going to be able to get the help she needs."
Martin has said she developed addictions to "anti-depressants, sleeping pills, anti-stress pills, pain-killers by injection (and) anti-anxiety injections" during her time at the Puente Grande women's prison. The facility's staff placed her on suicide watch for the latter part of her stay there.
With files from The Canadian Press
