Rioting prisoner gets more jail time

A RISDON prison inmate has been sentenced to an extra six months jail for his part in an uprising that resulted in the tactical response team being called to the correctional facility.

Riley Jason Causon, 21, who was in medium security, lit toilet paper in the microwave, which he then used to set a bin on fire as some prisoners protested about their alleged bad treatment.

Causon then grabbed bedding and clothing and added it to that fire and left his cell. A cushion he took from the common room was then added and the blaze took off.

The fire caused $11,038 damage to the cell and common area and Causon was directed by Justice Robert Pearce to compensate the Tasmanian Prison Service.

Tactical response teams and the Tasmanian Fire Service were brought in to restore order at the Hobart prison on May 5 as Causon and several other inmates set fires in response to what they claimed were bad conditions in the jail.

The riot lasted several hours and Causon was one of five charged over the incident.

“You lit this fire because you were unhappy with how you were being treated in jail,” Justice Robert Pearce said.

“Ironically, you will now spend longer in custody.

“Hopefully, the possibility of parole will be an incentive to change your behaviour.”

Causon, who is already in jail due to other convictions, will not be eligible for parole until he has served half his sentence.