A prisoner who put an inmate onto his bed, bound his hands and legs together and sexually assaulted him with a paint brush has pleaded guilty.
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Dylan Bell, 25, was one of three prisoners charged over the incident which occurred at a western Victorian prison last year.
Bell pleaded guilty to sexual assault and unlawful assault at the online Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Ivan Blomeley said Bell and his co-accused, prisoners Matthew Castles and Benjamin Flegg, were being rowdy before entering the victim's prison cell at 6.15pm on November 9.
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He said the victim was working on an art painting with his cell door open.
Sergeant Blomeley said the men placed the victim on his bed and used a trouser belt to bound the man's hands and legs together, which was then strapped to the bed, and placed a sock in his mouth to gag him.
He said Bell used a paintbrush to stimulate anal penetration while the victim remained fully clothed. The paintbrush was removed when someone was heard in the hallway saying, "you better stop doing that".
Later the same night, the prisoners were in the common area when they allegedly held the victim down on a couch and broke wind on him.
Defence lawyer Nick Graham said his client and the co-accused were mucking about at the time of the incident and it occurred more by way of a joke.
He said the victim sustained some discomfort.
"He (Bell) has made it quite clear this was not for the purpose of sexual gratification," Mr Graham said.
He said the unfortunate event carried over to the common area where Bell held the victim down on the couch while a co-accused broke wind on him.
The court was told Bell could apply to be released on parole on December 1 but his actual release date was June 16, 2021.
"My client is hoping to be granted parole at the first opportunity. It's difficult how the parole board will handle this (offending)," Mr Graham said.
"We feel my client will feel the impacts of the offending in the way the parole board will treat it."
We feel my client will feel the impacts of the offending in the way the parole board will treat it
- Defence lawyer Nick Graham
Mr Graham urged the court to consider sentencing Bell to a jail sentence to run concurrently with the sentence he is serving.
He said Bell had his future planned with employment and living arrangements organised for when he is released, and he had strong family support.
The prosecution submitted the sentence should not run concurrently because the offence occurred in custody, which aggravated it.
Magistrate Hayley Bate said it was serious offending and needed to be treated as such, but she took into account Bell had pleaded guilty which saved the victim from giving evidence.
Bell was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with two months to serve concurrently. He was not placed on the sex offenders register.
Castles and Flegg have not yet entered pleas and a contested hearing is expected to be held at a date to be fixed.