Convicted Wollongong drug dealer Tracy-Lee Brannigan has died in jail, just three months shy of her parole date.
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The one-time swimming school operator died on February 25 at Dillwynia Correctional Centre, near Windsor, where she was serving a minimum four years for supplying heroin.
Corrective Services officers were called to the mother-of-two's cell just before 5am to find her not breathing and she was declared dead a short time later.
Police are now investigating and will prepare a report for the coroner.
The 41-year-old was sentenced to an overall six years' jail in 2009 after she admitted to using her baby son's pram to conceal bundles of cash received from heroin deals.
Jailing Brannigan, Wollongong District Court judge Paul Conlon said she had run an organised and substantial operation.
Brannigan was handed almost $24,000 for supplying heroin in a series of transactions between February and May 2009.
The busy operation came to an abrupt end on May 19, 2009 when she was caught selling drugs to undercover police.
Brannigan was netted as part of Strike Force Luyten, a lengthy police operation, which culminated in several arrests.
She later told police she had suspected that she was dealing drugs to undercover detectives but had continued to sell heroin to feed her addiction.
The court was told Brannigan and her partner had also fortified their Unanderra home, erecting a gate and partition to screen visitors and installing a surveillance camera.
Judge Conlon said Brannigan had been able to access significant quantities of heroin soon after she received orders.
Brannigan would have been eligible for parole on May 26 this year.
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