"My Friends" lyrics question

Factual Questions
1

On the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song My Friends there’s the following lines:

Ex-girlfriend called me up
Alone and desperate
On the prison phone
They want to give her seven years
For being sad

Obviously they’re speaking metaphorically. But what are they speaking metaphorically about? My best guess is “for being sad” means his ex-girlfriend was convicted on some drug charge. But it seems kind of tenuous. Any ideas?

2

Disclaimer: I have never heard this song. But what the hell, I’ll throw out a WAG. Maybe it’s a reference to attempted suicide. If it’s still illegal to attempt suicide, then conceivably you could get seven-to-ten for it.