Dylan Winters, 23, was a prisoner in the management unit at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in October 2020 when a corrections officer told him that his classification for protection had been reviewed.

The result was that he would be moved to a general population unit within the jail, prompting him to tell the officer he wouldn't be safe there and threaten self-harm.

After the officer left, Winters got his property box and placed toilet rolls inside it.

He then placed the box up against the main door to the cell and used a lighter to set it alight.

A code red was called at the prison before officers extinguished the fire.

Winters had also caused further property damage to the external yard of his cell using a piece of wood and broom head after the fire was lit.

Court documents state Winters admitted to one officer that he lit the fire by telling them "I told you I can't move to a mains yard, I had to do this."

As for the property damage, he said "It took me ages to smash that".

After a forensic examination, the fire was calculated to have caused $24,227 in damage, while the property damage was calculated at $1202.

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Winters appeared via audio-visual link in the Supreme Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to arson. He also had the property damage charge taken into account in his sentencing.

The court was told that at the time of the offending he was serving a jail term, set to expire on March 31, that was imposed in 2019 for aggravated burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Acting Justice Peter Berman said that while the fire was confined to the cell, it was "nevertheless substantial".

"The potential risk to others is obvious, and it must've been an alarming experience for those who had no easy way of escaping if the fire had escaped beyond Mr Winters' cell," he said.

"It was Mr Winters' intention to disrupt the legitimate manner in which prison authorities have decided to classify him and to thwart his movement into the general prison population.

"His actions were clearly premeditated and intentional."

Acting Justice Berman, however, said he took into account that Winters, the youngest of three children, was genuinely afraid for his own safety if he were moved.

In considering the offender's personal factors, the judge said Winters' background was "a profoundly sad one" and that "his early life explains where he is today".

But he said Winters "must spend more time in custody" because a suspended jail term would not be enough in meeting sentencing purposes, specifically deterrence.

A reparation order was also sought for the cell damage, but the judge did not make one, saying he could not see the utility because of Winters' personal circumstances, and adding that a reparation order might even hinder his rehabilitation chances.

Winters was sentenced to eight months' jail, to start from April and to be suspended from August upon him entering a good behaviour order for two years.

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