Arabella Del Busso made headlines with an anguished handwritten letter about her hellish life behind bars. Now furious prison bosses reveal the TRUTH

Disgraced WAG Arabella Del Busso has been called out for wildly exaggerating her story about her alleged prison hell, with prison authorities publicly denying her disturbing claims about the way she was treated behind bars.

The former reality TV star alleged in court documents that she was threatened with a knife by another female inmate, is regularly robbed by inmates and has suffered multiple invasive searches by prison guards.

Del Busso also described several humiliations she was subjected to behind bars, including how to shower, change clothes and use the toilet in front of other female inmates.

But Del Busso – who was once caught faking ex-NRL star Josh Reynolds’ pregnancies – appears to have exaggerated her story of life in prison.

The governor of Australia’s largest women’s prison, Dillwynia Correctional Centre, read the Ny Breaking Australia report and took issue with Del Busso’s portrayal of prison practices.

A Corrective Services NSW insider said Del Busso’s graphic description of “having to spread your buttocks” during a strip search was untrue.

And while strip searches are conducted after visits to inmates, they don’t go that far.

Del Busso had also alleged in documents tendered to the court that she was threatened by an inmate with a prison-made knife or “shiv” and “stood over” and deprived of food.

However, the prison has not received any reports or complaints about such activities.

In a sternly worded denial issued through the prison’s media unit, the prison also said Del Busso’s claims that she had to routinely shower or use the toilet in the presence of other inmates was untrue.

The statement read: ‘Corrective Services NSW routinely conducts searches of prisoners to protect the safety and security of the prison community.

“There are strict protocols around strip searches and female inmates are always searched by female correctional officers.

“The inmate’s claims about showering in front of the inmates are not factual. The Dillwynia Correctional Center has individual cubicles where inmates can shower.

‘Detainees will not use the toilet in the presence of anyone else, except during urine analysis, and those sharing a cell for two people will be allowed to use a toilet in the cell after overnight lock-in.

“CSNSW has formal processes in place for prisoners to raise concerns. CSNSW will investigate the issues raised by the inmate.”

Del Busso’s prison sentence for stealing $52,350 from her medical company employer was reduced from 12 months to five months during a court hearing last week.

However, her bid for immediate release on a corrections order to be served in the community was rejected by District Court Judge John Pickering.

Del Busso worked as a receptionist at Rheumotology Specialist Care practices in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south, and Randwick, in the city’s east, between 2019 and 2020 at the time of the crimes.

According to court records, Del Busso told customers the EFTPOS machine was not working and asked them to pay in cash – then deposited the money into her own accounts.

In court, Judge Pickering rejected Del Busso’s claims that she suffered an “extracurricular punishment” due to excessive media coverage of her case.

“Because she actually said it, she pursued it,” Judge Pickering said. “She put herself on a reality show. She put herself on national television.

‘No one forced her to join SAS.

“She took part in an interview with 60 Minutes, chose to go on a reality show and has gained a public profile.”

His Honor also said that the glowing character references also presented to his court ‘had an unrealistic aspect of people saying they were so shocked by aspects of her dishonesty in this case.

“There were also aspects of dishonesty in the Josh Reynolds case.”

When Del Busso appeared on TV show SAS in 2020, she stunned viewers by attempting to downplay fake pregnancies and miscarriages for the NRL player, calling her actions a “little white lie.”

Del Busso told the show in an on-camera segment: “I told a lie, but you know, the way I see it, a little white lie here or there isn’t going to hurt anyone.

‘I’m sure we all do it. I’m not the only one in all of Australia who has told a little white lie here and there.’

HER PRISON LETTER

In her handwritten letter to the court, Del Busso spoke of an alarming encounter with a fellow inmate.

She said: ‘I was… threatened with a razor’ [sic]. That’s a reference to a “shiv,” prison slang for a prison-made knife or blade made of metal or plastic.

She also called the weekly comic book searches ‘traumatizing’.

“The strip searches have not only been traumatizing, but have also left me feeling violated by having to remove my clothing in front of two officers,” Del Busso wrote.

‘One is in front of you and one behind you, you then have to lift your bra and show your breasts.

“Then take off your underwear down to your knees or completely, bend over, spread your buttocks and lift one foot at a time.”

She had spent three and a half weeks in the tough women’s prison, the Silverwater Womens Correctional Centre, where she said she had a ‘very familiar role’ as a sweeper.

But her comfortable life in that prison ended with her transfer to Dillwynia — where she says she now feels “uncomfortable” performing private acts in the presence of other inmates.

“In such a confined space, I felt uncomfortable not only because I had to shower, use the toilet and undress and dress in front of them,” she wrote.

Del Busso told a friend and a forensic psychologist that “inmates would steal her food” and that she is regularly “cited for buying up (and) if she doesn’t comply, she has been threatened with violence.”

She said that since she was locked up eight weeks ago, she has endured the humiliating reality of sharing a small cell with other female criminals.

‘It makes me feel unsafe, because status is highly valued and prisoners know or discover who I am.’