Prison officers feared a notorious bike boss was organising a mass self-harm incident with fellow inmates in the days before he was found dead in his cell.
Those fears saw Finks boss Brent Reker transferred out of a specialist mental health unit into another section of the prison just an hour before he died at Ravenhall Correctional Centre in December 2019.
A Victorian coroner is investigating why the 35-year-old, who was on remand for serious, violent drug and weapon offences, was moved and whether that contributed to his suicide.
Counsel assisting the coroner Leading Senior Constable Fiona Nation said Reker had been moved from Port Phillip Prison to a specialist mental health unit at Ravenhall in November 2019, after previous attempts to take his own life.
The Moroka unit provides prisoners who have complex mental health issues with specialised care, treatment and programs.
It is highly unusual for prisoners to be moved from Moroka without finishing its intensive three-month program, with staff telling the inquest they had not seen anyone moved during their employment spanning over numerous years.
Prison staff became concerned Reker was wielding influence over other prisoners in the unit within three weeks of his arrival and removed him from the program.
Unit supervisor at the time, Malcolm Garth, told the inquest that while he was aware Reker had told prison staff that he and other inmates had planned to self harm together, he didn't believe it was a real threat.
Mr Garth said Reker and others were annoyed prisoners were missing out on doctor and dentist visits and Reker had also made similar threats when trying to get a job while in jail.
"One of the issues in the cohort of prisoners we have in the Moroka program was that they have complex and challenging behaviours," Mr Garth told the inquest on Monday.
"A lot of that is around attempting to manipulate people by making fake threats to get them to do what they want ... I think those particular comments were probably some form of an attempt to manipulate us to get an outcome."
Following a series of meetings, the decision was made to remove Reker from the unit.
But he may not have been moved at all if prison staff were aware of his prior suicide attempts.
Mr Garth said staff had limited access to information about prisoners' mental health due to privacy requirements.
The inquest heard that despite his repeated threats of self harm and relatively recent suicide attempts, Reker was listed on the lowest risk category, which meant his mental health history wasn't necessarily shared with prison staff and therefore not passed on to his new unit.
A psychiatrist was supposed to speak to Reker before he was transferred but this did not happen as the clinician was unable to be contacted.
About 2.30pm on December 12, officers began transferring Reker out of the unit.
In body-worn camera footage shown to the inquest, Reker was argumentative when told about the move.
A psychiatrist was sent to Reker's new cell about 3.30pm, but he did not respond and the cell door was blocked by a mattress.
Corrections staff raised a "code black" medical emergency and Reker was found lying unconscious on the floor of the shower in his cell at 3.38pm.
Coroner Paul Lawrie is investigating the events leading up to Reker's move out of the specialist unit, his mental health history and risk assessment of him by staff.
The inquest will continue on Tuesday.
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