I had a comfortable middle class life – then I was jailed for fraud | Juanita Schaffa de Mauri

I came from a stable family, had a good education and worked in corporate roles for many years. I learned that the system doesn't favour anyone

• I fell asleep at the wheel': my life changed the day my partner died
• The grief of losing my son and husband drove me to drug addiction

I see no other option than to issue you a custodial sentence for a period of two and a half years." I still hear those words like they were said only yesterday. My stomach sank and my head spun. A million things went through my mind as I started having trouble breathing, and nausea set in.

I had never been to jail. I'd never had a criminal record. As visions of Wentworth episodes ran through my head, I suddenly had to pull myself together because shit was about to get very real. I was going to prison for fraudulent activity that I had committed under the influence of ice.