Australian drug trafficker Cassie Sainsbury has shared a revealing insight into life inside Colombia’s notorious women’s prison.
On her first night in a Colombian prison, the South Australian, then 22 years old, suffered a shocking attack.
“The first night, they basically put you in a cell-type shed with inmates who have been there for a while,” he told NCA NewsWire in a wide-ranging interview this week.
“And she had some kind of gang, this girl, and they were stealing people’s things that had just arrived and it was really frustrating because I didn’t have anything to steal anyway. And I was raped by a girl.
It was a horrific start to what would be almost three years of fighting for survival in Bogotá’s infamous El Buen Pastor.
Sainsbury was caught trafficking 5.8kg of cocaine at Bogotá international airport on a flight to Australia in 2017.
She became a media sensation, earning the nickname ‘Cocaine Cassie’, and now, 29, has written a memoir detailing her side of a terrible story.
“I stayed on the guards’ good side,” he said when asked how he coped with prison life day to day,” Sainsbury recalled.
‘In that sense I was a little misunderstood with my inmates because I never argued with the guards.
“I never caused any problems and you know, if they did a search and found prohibited items like phones and stuff like that, it would be the end of the world and I would just say ‘well, what do you expect? We’re not supposed to have them. It’s their job.’ “
But the specter of violence overshadowed everything, he said.
In one case, Sainsbury said she kicked and screamed to fight off a guard who tried to sexually assault her.
“I was screaming,” he said.
“Then the other guard who was basically guarding the door didn’t do anything until he finally realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere.”
Cassie Sainsbury was captured with 5.8 kilos of cocaine at El Dorado International Airport, in Bogotá, Colombia, on April 11, 2017.
He has now written a memoir about his time in custody and the consequences of his crime.
One of the guard leaders, a brutal lieutenant, “enjoyed beating women,” he said.
‘At that point, he had already hit me twice. Punches and kicks,” Sainsbury said.
“There was a lot of violence on the part of this lieutenant.”
“I tried to report him when I was there and the paperwork was lost.”
Life was hard in many other ways. The food was “disgusting,” he said, and he became sick from the lack of nutrition.
“We actually received a lot of rotten and moldy food to the point where they closed the kitchen many times,” Sainsbury said.
‘It would have worms, insects. There would be hair. The other inmates who served the food used their hands to serve it.
‘I struggled a lot with food to the point where I became seriously ill.
‘There was a shop inside the prison and they sold crackers and things like that that would help you survive long enough and you would choose what you would eat from the food they gave us.
‘They were also very small portions. It was to give you energy for what you needed and that was it.’
The El Buen Pastor women’s prison in Colombia. Image: 60 minutes
Cassandra Sainsbury, from Australia, arrives at a court hearing in Bogotá in 2017
Sainsbury said it was unlikely she would ever receive justice for the abuses perpetrated against her at El Buen Pastor, run by the Colombian prison agency INPEC.
‘When I first got out on parole, it was something I wanted to investigate and try to get somewhere. Yes, I started working in a law firm (Colombian lawyer),’ he said.
‘We entered INPEC, which is the one that manages the prison system.
And they basically said, ‘Inmates don’t have any rights.’ There are no rights. You are a nobody. You go in there, there is no freedom.’
‘(But) you still have basic dignity as a human being in prison.
‘Have simple little things that will protect you and keep you safe. Even though you committed the crime, that doesn’t mean you have to go through those things.
“It just never got any further. There is so much corruption there. In a way they protect their own.
Sainsbury and his partner Tatiana. Photo: Instagram
Sainsbury was sentenced to six years in jail and then released in 2020 after serving two years, 11 months and 21 days.
He then spent 27 months on parole in Colombia.
Drug dealers and wealthy Westerners who roll up dollar bills to snort cocaine from Sydney to London are responsible for the wave of violence sweeping Mexico and Latin America.
Judges, politicians, journalists and tens of thousands of innocent people are murdered year after year because of the drug trade, and Sainsbury said he felt “self-disgust” at his role in fueling this violence.
To help make amends, he said profits from the book would go to three charities: Life Without Barriers, MumKind and Kickstart for Kids.
“Sales of this book will go to charity,” he said.
‘One of them is Vida Sin Barreras, which has a really good rehabilitation program.
“I’m constantly trying to give back where I can.”
His story is about redemption and second chances, he said.
The cover of Sainsbury’s new book, published by New Holland Publishers. Image: Supplied
“For me, the book was about giving answers and explanations,” he said.
‘I finally have the chance to talk and I really hope that the book sheds light on the complex realities of what crime is and what life in prison is really about and what you can go through.
‘I hope that anyone who reads it can discover how easy it can be to be manipulated and follow a very destructive path.
“Encouraging others to make better decisions and, above all, to see humanity in those who have made mistakes.”
Sainsbury now lives in Adelaide with his Colombian partner Tatiana, who he calls his “anchor in all of this”.
“I was portrayed as such a nasty, horrible person and I just wanted to give people an idea of how it really played out and how I ended up there,” he said.
“I’m sorry, but it was never intentional.”
Sainsbury said he had “no relationship” with his mother but had reconciled with his sister.
“She and my nephews are basically my family now,” he said.
“He’s the one I spend all my time with.”
Her memoir is Cocaine Cassie: Getting the Record Straight, published by New Holland Publishers.