A convicted murderer who stashed drugs in his underwear inside Canberra's jail told a court he was determined to kick his drug habit and get freed from behind bars.
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Daniel Scott Williams, 40, told ACT Corrections officers a female visitor handed him a plastic packet of cannabis when he pulled it out of his pants before a strip-search at the Alexander Maconochie Centre on December 17 last year.
But Williams later told police he had found the drugs on the footpath outside the jail's visiting area and put it in his underwear because he thought it might have belonged to another inmate, the ACT Magistrates Court heard on Friday.
In an interview with police, he said he'd known the package likely contained "pot".
He pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis as a detainee.
Williams served about 14 years in jail for his role in the 1997 killing of Ulrike Conway.
Mrs Conway was found dead from a heroin overdose in her Evatt home on Sunday, May 4, 1997.
Williams and his accomplice Barry Steer were promised $15,000 to kill Mrs Conway by her estranged husband, Australian Federal Police officer John Terence Conway, and his girlfriend, Kathy Marie McFie.
The two murderers were handed reduced sentences of 27 years with a non-parole periods of 18 years, which were reduced by one-third to 12 years, after they agreed to give evidence against Conway and McFie.
Steer died in prison in 2000.
Williams' full sentence expires in 2017, but he was granted parole in 2012.
The court heard he had been back in jail since November last year for breaching his parole conditions.
Williams, who was self-represented, told the court he didn't want the incident to jeopardise a parole application that was set to be considered by the Sentence Administration Board in coming weeks.
Magistrate Karen Fryar told Williams that although the offence was not the most serious of its type, it was still serious, and there was a significant need for general deterrence.
Williams claimed he'd nearly died recently due to medical complications from a drug he took for schizophrenia, which had caused him to examine his life.
He told the court he was taking methadone to help kick his drug addiction and he was determined to change and get out of jail to spend more time with his children.
Williams said he was now in his 17th year of spending time in jail "for my crime I wish I could take back", and every time he came back to court it was "used against him".
Ms Fryar acknowledged Williams had pleaded guilty to the drug offence at the earliest opportunity, and had been frank and honest about the incident.
But said only a term of imprisonment was appropriate.
She told the court that because Williams had committed the crime while he was in custody, she was required under law to add any prison time for the offence to his existing sentence, and re-set his non-parole period.
"Is this gonna stuff up my chances for parole?" Williams asked.
Ms Fryar said she didn't know.
She recorded a conviction and sentenced him to one month behind bars, which was added to his 18-year prison sentence for murder.
The magistrate also reset Williams' non-parole period as 12 years from 1997 - the same as when he was sentenced for the killing.
Ms Fryar suggested Williams seek legal advice if he had any concerns, saying: "How you come and go from custody is a matter for you and the Sentence Administration Board."
