Former reality TV contestant and ex-footy WAG turned professional boxer Arabella Del Busso is spending her time behind bars whipping fellow inmates into shape.
Ny Breaking Australia has learned the glamorous ex-girlfriend of rugby league star Josh Reynolds is leading the prison fitness training program along with other women locked up at the 531-inmate Dillwynia Correctional Center in Sydney’s northwest.
Del Busso is currently home to Australia’s largest women’s prison as she prepares to appeal the severity of her sentence for stealing from her employer.
The 33-year-old lingerie model was jailed on February 13 for stealing $52,000 from Rheumotology Specialist Care, where she worked as a receptionist at practices in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south, and Randwick, in the city’s east.
Former reality TV contestant and ex-footy WAG turned professional boxer Arabella Del Busso (pictured) is spending her time behind bars getting fellow inmates into shape.
The 33-year-old lingerie model (pictured) was jailed on February 13 for stealing $52,000 from Rheumotology Specialist Care, where she worked as a receptionist at practices in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south, and Randwick, in the city’s east.
After spending a few nights at the Silverwater Women’s Correctional Center in Sydney’s west, she was ordered to serve her time in Dillwynia (pictured) and was transferred by prison van to the facility 56km outside Sydney.
As an employee, she had pleaded guilty to two counts of theft between September 2019 and February 2020.
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly sentenced Del Busso to minimum 12 months behind bars for what he described as a ‘terrible breach of trust’.
After spending a few nights at the Silverwater Women’s Correctional Center in Sydney’s west, she was ordered to serve her time in Dillwynia and was transferred by prison van to the facility 56km outside Sydney.
Now seven weeks into her sentence, the former SAS Australia star will appear in the NSW District Court, represented by lawyer Andrew Stewart, in a bid to get out of jail early.
Mr Stewart told Ny Breaking Australia Del Busso was hoping for a reduced sentence because she was remorseful and “tried to turn her life around”.
”It is not pleasant for anyone to be in prison. She is trying to get as much support as she can,” he said.
Del Busso has adjusted to life in prison, including spending about 17 hours a day in her three-by-five-foot cell, serving prison meals on an aluminum foil tray and interacting with inmates serving time for violent crimes.
Ny Breaking Australia has learned that Del Busso (pictured) uses her expertise and fitness knowledge to keep herself fit and show the other inmates exercise routines
Del Busso (pictured) has adapted to life in prison, spending about 17 hours each day in her three-by-five-metre cell, serving prison meals on an aluminum foil tray and interacting with inmates serving prison sentences for violent crimes .
Del Busso’s belongings in prison consist of her reception package containing a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a plate, bowl and cup, and a roll of toilet paper.
However, it is clear that Del Busso uses her expertise and fitness knowledge to keep herself fit and show the other inmates workout routines.
“She does what she can to help other inmates,” Stewart said.
‘Staying fit, helping inmates who have some problems, making sure you eat, making sure you shower.
“She has expressed her remorse and has repaid what she had to pay (approximately $30,000) from the money she had saved and set aside and from boxing prize money.”
Upon her arrival at Dillwynia, the only women’s facility clustered with two men’s prisons at the Francis Greenway Correctional Complex, Del Busso was given a package containing a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a plate, bowl and cup, and a roll of toilet paper.
Anything other than prison clothing is considered contraband.
While prisoners were once searched upon arrival, this now usually only happens if a prison X-ray scanner identifies contraband hidden on an imate’s person.
Del Busso was taken to her cell, which has only a thin, vinyl-covered mattress, and was given a meal prepared at the adjacent men’s prison, the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Center.
Her meals consisted of pre-packed salads with cold meat and hot meals of crumbled fish, chicken wings and chicken schnitzel, which they ate with plastic cutlery.
Under the NSW prison system’s so-called Bangkok Rules, Del Busso is encouraged to stay in touch with family members or friends through weekly visits and phone calls via landlines in the prison’s common areas.
Del Busso’s lawyer says she is remorseful, has paid back what she was ordered to do and wants to return to her work and her career as a boxing professional
Del Busso famously left TV reality show SAS Australia after being questioned about faking multiple pregnancies and miscarriages while dating rugby league star Josh Reynolds
In addition, female prisoners have access to a tablet every day during the afternoon lock-in and are allowed to make outgoing calls from these devices until 10 p.m.
Under what are known as the Mandela Rules, Del Busso has also had access to consultations with her legal advisers.
Mr Stewart said Del Busso was looking for “a return to normality, back to work and her boxing career” after her release from prison.
‘She’s definitely nervous (about her attraction), but she’s had time to think. She’s sorry.’
The one-time glamor model shot to fame after her relationship with then-Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs NRL star Josh Reynolds dissolved when it was revealed she had faked a pregnancy.
In October 2020, she famously left TV reality show SAS Australia after being questioned about the relationship drama that spilled into the public eye.