Once a self-proclaimed party enthusiast, Danielle Tara Hogan found herself in the harrowing world of incarceration after being implicated in a major cocaine distribution network. She recounted the terrifying experience of showering in the presence of male inmates and expressed gratitude for her arrest, believing it saved her from becoming “a junkie or dead.”

Hailing from North Bondi, the 30-year-old Hogan admitted to supplying a large quantity of cocaine in November 2021, two years post-arrest.

Her sentence amounted to three years and ten months, with her serving 17 months behind bars.

Following her release, Hogan shared her unsettling prison experiences with former homicide detective Gary Jubelin, detailing her time in New South Wales’ largest processing facilities.

Describing her ordeal on Jubelin’s podcast, “I Catch Killers,” she revealed, “I was forced to shower in front of men. I couldn’t make phone calls to anyone. It was sheer hell.”

Convicted of five drug-related charges at just 24, Hogan recounted being “thrown into a dry cell, strip-searched, and subjected to numerous indignities.”

‘And that was the pivotal moment for me. Everyone always says it’s when you’re arrested or when you spend a few days in jail, whatever,’ she said.

‘No, no, no. That was the moment that I was like, this s*** needs to change now.’

Danielle Tara Hogan (pictured) pleaded guilty in November 2021 to supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine across Sydney. She spent 17 months in jail

She claimed police officers said they were going to ‘make an example’ of her after her arrest

But the sentence turned out to be a wake-up call for Hogan, who now works at Confit, a gym for ex-prisoners which helps members adjust to life on the outside.

‘To be honest, upon reflection recently… I feel like if I wasn’t arrested, if I wasn’t prosecuted, I would either be a junkie or I’d be dead,’ she said.

‘Jail was one of the best things that ever happened to me.’ 

The young woman claimed that when she was taken into police custody, they told her: ‘Sorry, we are going to make an example of you’. 

Hogan delivered 580 bags of cocaine to customers across Sydney as part of a multimillion dial-a-dealer operation. 

Police allege the group supplied about 200 bags of cocaine to customers each week for $300 each, with estimated earnings of $60,000 per week or $3.1million a year.

At one point she asked the syndicate to hire a friend who had a young child as a drug runner – a move Hogan admitted was ‘selfish’ during court proceedings. 

She called it quits when her partner found out about her involvement, sending a text message to her syndicate handlers which read: ‘Hey I’m sorry but I’m done. I’ve taken my pay $450 from yesterday, left everything in the safe, password is ‘c***’.’

But years later, she has said jail was one of the best things that ever happened to her

She said that, if she was never prosecuted, should could have died

Hogan now works at Confit, a gym for ex-prisoners helping members adjust to life outside jail

Hogan, a former event planner, had been unaware her previous ongoing criminal activity was under police surveillance. 

On September 13, 2019, officers watched on as Hogan delivered a bag of cocaine to a man in the CBD on Castlereagh St. She was arrested on November 7 that year. 

The young woman opened up about how she became ‘reckless and selfish’ prior to joining the drug syndicate as a result of a sexual assault in her teens and subsequent court proceedings.

‘I was 15 at this point. I didn’t know how to handle it. In court, I wasn’t answering questions in the way that was deemed necessary; I completely shut down,’ she said.

‘I was made out to be a liar, and that broke my heart. So unfortunately, the abusers weren’t even convicted.

‘That was just such a kick in the mouth to me at such a young age, because I thought the system that was supposed to protect me, the one place that I was so scared and so vulnerable being in, pretty much turned against me. 

‘So in my mind, from there that just changed me as a person, that made me feel like, what’s the point of being honest anymore?’