Heru Andriyanto – Artalyta Suryani, the wealthy Indonesian businesswoman convicted of bribing a prosecutor and later busted enjoying spa treatments in prison, is now a free woman.

Accompanied by her two stepchildren, relatives and lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis, Artalyta, who is also known as Ayin, walked out of the Tangerang Women's Penitentiary on Friday, more than a year before her term was up.

Inmates, some in tears, and prison guards clapped and cheered as she stepped out from the prison's gates. Some even asked to have their picture taken with her before she left. "She reserves the right to be released," Kaligis told reporters.

Artalyta was granted parole, to the chagrin of antigraft activists, because she had served two-thirds of her four-and-a-half-year sentence for paying a $660,000 bribe to a senior prosecutor and because of good behavior, said Etty Nurbaiti, the prison's warden.

This was despite the fact that Artalyta had to be transferred to the Tangerang facility early last year because a surprise inspection of her cell at Jakarta's Pondok Bambu Penitentiary found that she had been enjoying luxury facilities, including air-conditioning, a refrigerator, big-screen television and karaoke machine.

Under the terms of her parole, Artalyta must regularly report to authorities until her term officially ends on May 12, 2012.

"And after that, we will still impose another year of probation, which means that Artalyta will only get to enjoy unconditional freedom after May 2013," Etty said, adding the probation period was normal for paroled convicts. "If she reoffends during her parole or the probation period, she will be jailed again."

The warden had earlier praised Artalyta for her "positive contribution" to the prison – teaching English to fellow inmates, donating an air-conditioner for the prison library, renovating the visiting room and funding the construction of two gazebos in the front yard.

While visiting the Tangerang Prosecutors' Office to complete the paperwork for her release, Artalyta told journalists she wanted to tend to her business interests and spend more time with the two toddlers she adopted while in prison. "I will nurse my babies and return to business," she said.

On Thursday, antigraft campaigners criticised Artalyta's early release, saying it would only set a bad precedent in the country's fight against corruption drive.

"There should be no tolerance for graft convicts," said lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis. "Artalyta's release will make [potential criminals] think the punishment is nothing compared to the ill-gotten money they'll enjoy."

Anies Baswedan, rector of Paramadina University, said Artalyta had turned the country's justice system into a joke. "The convict who turned her cell into a hotel room has been released. Where is our pride?" he said, adding that he thought the government was going soft on graft.

In 2008, Artalyta was found to be a major case broker at the Attorney General's Office. In March of that year, senior prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan was caught by antigraft officials leaving Artalyta's Jakarta home with $660,000 in cash. Urip was sentenced to a record 20 years in jail. During Artalyta's trial, the court heard wiretapped phone conversations in which the businesswoman used pet names to refer to several senior officials at the AGO.

Although the court, in its verdict, clearly linked other officials to the case, no other people besides Artalyta and Urip have faced charges.