The convicted Australian drug smuggler Cassie Sainsbury has been released from a Colombian prison.

The South Australian was serving a six-year term for trying to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine out of Colombia.

The former personal trainer from Adelaide was arrested at El Dorado airport in Bogotá in April 2017. The cocaine was found packaged in 18 headphone boxes in her suitcase. She was sentenced in November of the same year.

Sainsbury walked free from El Buen Pastor women’s prison on Friday after spending three years behind bars.

On Wednesday Colombia’s president, Ivan Duque, ordered the “humanitarian” release of more than 4,000 prisoners to house arrest, in an effort to reduce overcrowding and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Agence France-Presse reported that two prisoners had died from Covid-19 in the South American country.

As part of her parole conditions, the 22-year-old must remain in Colombia for 27 months, according to Nine News.

Sainsbury said the experience had taught her a lot about herself.

“I learned a lot about people, I’ve learned how to analyse people better,” she said in a 60 Minutes interview extract posted online by Nine News. “I’ve learned not to trust people so much.

“It’s been definitely a massive learning curve but, at the same time, everything that I’ve been through in prison, everything that I learnt I wouldn’t change it, because it’s made me a stronger person – it’s made me who I am today.”