Becky Burke spent 19 days in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centre.
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were telling her that she was "lucky" to be in this one, as it was known as "one of the better ones".
"A few of the woman had come from San Diego and they were telling me how awful [it was] and how they were treated.
"The officers would shout at them and throw them in the shower for like five seconds [max]."
She added that she wanted to use the spotlight on her to share the stories of the other woman in the centre.
Ms Burke believes pressure from the press coverage helped with her early release.
She said an ICE officer told her that her case had been brought to "the top of the pile" after they received an email from the British consulate.
The following day she was told a flight had been booked to
take her home on 18 March.
A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) previously said it could not comment on specific cases for privacy reasons, but added: "All persons arriving at a port-of-entry to the United States are subject to inspection.
"CBP officers treat all travellers with integrity, respect, professionalism and according to law."
The spokesperson said in the event of a foreign national being found inadmissible to the United States, CBP would "provide the foreign national an opportunity to procure travel to his or her home country".
"If the foreign national is unable to do so, he or she will be turned over to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) for repatriation," they added.