A woman who started a fire in her jail cell has escaped further time behind bars after being handed a suspended sentence.
Catherine Fiona Howsan appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday, having previously pleaded guilty to arson.
Justice John Burns said Howsan started the blaze at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in Canberra while locked up there on March 4 last year.
He did not say how much damage the fire caused, and noted that the fact it was in Howsan's cell meant she had put herself in greater danger than anyone else.
But Justice Burns said there was always a risk that fire could spread and put others in jeopardy. That risk was heightened in a jail setting, where inmates were confined and subject to restrictions that may prevent them easily moving away from danger.
This, he said, made Howsan's offending a particularly serious example of arson.
The judge said he had previously deferred sentencing for six months in order to see whether Howsan, who has been released from jail since the fire, could comply with the terms of her parole.
He said she had largely done so and had engaged with support services, though there had been three instances of Howsan relapsing into heroin use.
Ultimately, the judge agreed with defence lawyer Jan de Bruin's submission that Howsan's progress in the past six months meant she should receive a suspended sentence for the fire.
Justice Burns sentenced Howsan to one year in jail, but he suspended the sentence immediately upon Howsan agreeing to enter into an 18-month good behaviour order.
