Two inmates who rioted while drunk on "prison brew" have had years added to their jail stints after the territory's top court found their arson sentences were inadequate.
"That's shit, bro," Keith Ernest Frank Carberry said in the ACT Court of Appeal dock on Thursday, when he and Garang Dau Deng learned the outcomes of their cases.
After landing themselves behind bars by committing an aggravated robbery in August 2020, the pair went on what Acting Justice Richard Refshauge described as "a destructive rampage" at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
In May 2021, Carberry and Deng were among a group of inmates who threatened guards, threw objects at them and started fights.
Their belligerence escalated throughout the afternoon and evening in question, when they lit several fires and damaged parts of the ACT jail in various other ways.
The pair fed the initial blaze, which engulfed an officers' station, with a microwave oven and other objects.
Carberry also committed four assaults on fellow prisoners, one of whom he hit in the head with a mug.
By the time the riot finished, the ACT government was left with a $4.6 million damages bill.
Acting Justice Refshauge ultimately sentenced Deng to seven years and three months in jail, with a non-parole period expiring in May 2025.
The ACT Supreme Court judge imposed a seven-year prison term on Carberry, fixing a non-parole period to expire in July 2024.
All parties to the case subsequently appealed, though Deng later withdrew his challenge.
Carberry persisted with his, arguing Acting Justice Refshauge imposed an excessive sentence and made an error when finding the facts.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, claimed the sentences were "manifestly inadequate".
On Thursday, three appeal judges dismissed Carberry's challenge but agreed with the prosecution.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson, Justice Geoffrey Kennett and Justice Wendy Abraham said they did not believe the arson component of the offenders' sentences reflected the seriousness of that crime.
The judges noted firefighters had to be deployed to deal with the blazes, which put inmates at risk, rendered parts of the jail uninhabitable, and cost taxpayers a significant sum.
"We would emphasise that the offending conduct was motivated by anger and a wish to cause damage to the building in which the offenders were detained," the judges said.
Having identified an error in the pair's sentences, the appeal court extended Carberry's total jail term to eight years and 10 months.
His non-parole period was increased by two-and-a-half years, meaning his earliest possible release date will now be in January 2027.
Deng, meanwhile, had his head sentence upped to eight years and four months in jail.
He will now become eligible for release in August 2027, two years and three months later than under the terms of his original sentence.
The appeal judges expressed scepticism about the prospects of the offenders, both aged in their mid-20s, achieving rehabilitation.
