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7 months ago
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Disgraced footy WAG Arabella Del Busso has revealed she was threatened with a knife by another female prisoner, is regularly robbed by inmates and has endured multiple invasive strip searches by prison guards.
In an anguished handwritten letter from her jail cell in Sydney's north-west, the former reality TV show star details her humiliating life behind bars, describing how she has to shower, change and go to the toilet in front of other female prisoners.
In the letter, obtained by Daily Mail Australia, the 34-year-old recounts being threatened by a fellow prisoner, saying 'I was ... threatened with being stabbed with a shive' [sic]. That is a reference to a 'shiv', prison slang for a jail-made knife or blade fashioned from metal or plastic.
The one-time SAS reality TV show contestant also describes the strip searches she undergoes weekly as 'traumatising'.
Arabella Del Busso says she has found multiple strip searches in prison humiliating and has written a graphic description of what she has to endure each time she has a contact visit
The 34-year-old convicted thief spent three weeks at Silverwater Women's prison (above) before being transferred to Dillwynia where she has been threatened with a jail made knife
'The strip searches ... have not only been traumatising but have made me feel violated due to having to remove my clothing in front of two officers,' Del Busso wrote.
'One stands in front of you and one other behind you, you are then required to lift up your bra and show your breasts.
'Then either pull your underwear down to your knees or completely off, bend over spread your bum cheeks and lift one foot up at a time.'
Del Busso's prison files can be revealed after she failed in a bid to be released from prison on a community order.
Instead, she is being forced to spend another three months behind bars for stealing $52,000 from her employer when she was working as a receptionist.
Del Busso became a notorious figure after it was revealed that she lied that she was pregnant to her ex-boyfriend, rugby league star Josh Reynolds.
She is currently locked up in the 531-inmate capacity Dillwynia Correctional Centre, in Berkshire Park.
She had spent three-and-a-half weeks at the tough female jail, the Silverwater Womens Correctional Centre, where she she said she had a 'very trusted role' as a sweeper.
But her comfortable life at that prison ended with her transfer to Dillwynia - where she now feels 'uncomfortable' performing private acts in front of other inmates.
’In such a confined space, not only has it made me feel uncomfortable due to having to shower, use the toilet and get undressed and dressed in front of them,' she wrote.
Del Busso, now 34, said other female prisoners regularly steal food from her using violence as a threat and as a result she has lost weight behind bars and is locked up for 17 hours a night
The ex-footy WAG also described the humiliation of having to share a cell with another female inmate in whose company she has to undress, shower and go to the toilet
Del Busso told a friend and a forensic psychologist 'inmates would steal her food' and that she is regularly 'stood over for buy-ups (and) if she does not comply she has been threatened with violence'.
She said since her being locked up eight weeks ago she has endured the degrading reality of sharing a tiny cell with other female criminals
'It has made me feel unsafe as being a high profile status it comes with inmates knowing or finding out who I am.'
In an affidavit to her lawyer, Del Busso said: 'I try to get through each day, and keep my head down, but but each day feels so long and hard.
'I did not include things in my letter deliberately because I was aware that gaol staff would read the content of my letter.
'And I did not want them to know about these things for fear it would compromise my safety in gaol.'
One of the visitors areas at Dillwynia prison where Del Busso is now serving a five month sentenced for 'brazen' theft
Del Busso was jailed on February 13 for stealing $52,350 from Rheumotology Specialist Care.
She worked as a receptionist in its practices at Kogarah, in Sydney's south, and Randwick, in the city's east between 2019 and 2020.
Judge John Pickering called the thefts 'brazen' and a magistrate described her methods of perpetrating the dishonest acts as 'elaborate'.
When she is released from jail in July, Del Busso plans to 'continue my boxing career where people will forgive be inspired and look up to myself'.
'Being in custody has opened my eyes and taught me gratitude, realigned my values and made me realise that not only my actions affected myself, but also my loved ones around me.
'Not only have I let myself down, but I have let my loved ones, friends and fans down.'
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