A "cowardly" killer joined a prison gang and played a significant role in "driving" a destructive riot, jail authorities have told a tribunal.
But Jason Pikula-Carroll denies any involvement in what the Canberra prison's former boss described as "the most serious act of concerted indiscipline" he had seen behind bars.
The November 2020 riot rendered a maximum security unit at the Alexander Maconochie Centre uninhabitable for months, forcing the now former ACT Corrective Services commissioner, Jon Peach, to transfer eight inmates interstate.
One of them, Pikula-Carroll, was identified in an "intelligence target profile" as a member of the Gorilla Mafia Family prison gang while on remand at the time of the incident.
An ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision, published on Wednesday, states that he was seen speaking to a senior Comanchero bikie just before the riot.
He was also spotted in conversation with an inmate who damaged several CCTV cameras during the incident, which involved armed detainees lighting a series of fires.
After the riot, Mr Peach decided to "release some of the tension" in the jail and deal with its suddenly reduced capacity by sending some particularly difficult prisoners to NSW.
Deemed by ACT Corrective Services to have been "one of the main drivers of the riotous behaviour", Pikula-Carroll was among those selected.
He was told he would be moved in December 2020, on the same day he was sentenced to 30 years in jail for crimes that included what Justice John Burns described as the "cowardly" shooting murder of artist Eden Waugh.
Pikula-Carroll, 27, sought a review of the transfer decision but was shipped off to the Goulburn Correctional Centre's infamous "Supermax" wing before one could be undertaken.
He was later advised that the decision would not have changed because of the seriousness of the riot.
The murderer, who eventually moved from Goulburn to a jail in Junee, sued ACT Corrective Services.
He claimed the decision to transfer him had been based on unproven and unjustified allegations about his involvement in the riot.
Pikula-Carroll, a Ngunnawal man, also claimed ACT Corrective Services had racially discriminated against him by failing to consider his Aboriginality and cultural needs when making the decision.
The killer, who suffered a back injury while an apprentice chef in his teenage years, further alleged he had been discriminated against on the basis of his disability.
He sought remedies that included $40,000 in damages and an apology from ACT Corrective Services for "unlawful conduct".
By the time his case reached a final hearing in November 2022, Pikula-Carroll had been transferred back to the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
In response to Pikula-Carroll's claims, ACT Corrective Services admitted it had not given any consideration to his back injury or his Aboriginality when making the decision to send him interstate.
However, senior tribunal member Michael Orlov said it was reasonable to have assumed Pikula-Carroll would receive appropriate medical treatment in a NSW jail.
Mr Orlov was also not persuaded Pikula-Carroll's Aboriginality would have made any difference to Mr Peach's decision, had it been considered at the time.
Because he was satisfied Mr Peach had made a reasonable decision in the circumstances, Mr Orlov dismissed the discrimination claims.
Pikula-Carroll has never been charged in connection with the riot.
Having had three years slashed from his prison sentence by the ACT Court of Appeal last year, Pikula-Carroll is now serving a 27-year jail term.
He is due to become eligible for parole in May 2035, by which he will have served 16 years and two months.
