An Alexander Maconochie Centre inmate has been sentenced to two more years jail, after starting multiple cell fires and being caught with a cigarette lighter protruding from his body.
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Tian-Jarrah Denniss is serving time at the Canberra prison for failing to return to custody and aggravated robbery. The fresh charges would see him eligible for parole in December 2021.
Denniss pleaded guilty to two counts of arson for starting fires in his cell on two occasions. In his sentence, Justice David Mossop said the fires resulted in more than $100,000 worth of damage.
The first incident happened on September 2, 2018, two weeks after Denniss was sentenced for his previous offences. Two prison officers smelled smoke and saw it coming out in black plumes from Denniss' cell, before one rushed to subdue the flames with a fire extinguisher.
More staff arrived, and the fire was extinguished. Denniss was handcuffed and "aggressive and abusive" towards corrections staff, the judge said. Officers subsequently strip-searched him, and found a lighter protruding from his body.
The incident caused nearly $87,800 in damage. Works to fix the cell were still ongoing, and Denniss was charged with arson in May 2019.
On July 11, 2019, corrections officers again responded to a fire in Denniss' cell in a different unit in the prison. They grabbed a fire hose and told Denniss to open the hatch on his cell door.
He refused, so officers opened the hatch externally and pointed the hose through it. Denniss tried to block the hatch, but an officer managed to put the blaze out with a fire extinguisher.
Officers retreated to the courtyard afterwards to escape smoke and catch their breath. They returned to find Denniss trying to relight the fire.
He was eventually taken from the cell and strip-searched, but it turned up nothing.
The total cost of the damage from the second incident was about $17,100, the judge said.
Justice Mossop noted Denniss' mental health issues and drug use during sentencing, but said Denniss had poor prospects for rehabilitation.
"The first arson occurred only a few days after I sentenced him on the previous occasion," he said. "The second arson occurred after he had been charged in May 2019 with the first arson."