It was his first offence - a three-month prison sentence for booking airline tickets under the fake name of Prince Bhopal.
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But for his crime, Junaid Thorne has been classified as one of the most dangerous prisoners in the state.
Fairfax Media has confirmed that Thorne, a 26-year-old part-time labourer and self-styled sheikh who has courted controversy with his religious preachings, has been given an AA classification and moved to Goulburn's SuperMax to serve out his sentence in segregation.
The AA classification, the highest in the state, is reserved for terrorism inmates and those who pose a "special risk to national security" because they may incite others to engage in terrorism.
Dr Clarke Jones, a prison radicalisation expert from the Australian National University, said it was a dangerous decision that will only make Thorne a greater risk to Australia when he is released in December.
He said it was "ludicrous" that someone with no record, no terrorism convictions and such a minor conviction would be placed in SuperMax alongside terrorists serving up to 28 years.
A Corrective Services NSW spokesman declined to comment on individual cases but said the Commissioner makes AA classifications for reasons of national security.
"There are formal channels available to inmates who wish to appeal their classification," he said.
Thorne voluntarily took part in a four-hour interview with ASIO last year and was deported from Saudi Arabia in 2013 for protesting his brother's incarceration on terrorism charges.
Dr Jones said if he has any terrorism connections or ideologies, they're only going to be made worse in SuperMax.
"It's a dangerous environment if you want to make mild extremists worse."
Dr Jones said Thorne will be able to communicate with other SuperMax inmates, like Khaled Cheikho and Mohammed Ali Elomar, the masterminds of the foiled Pendennis terror plot who he describes as "hardcore ideologues".
He said there is a greater chance Thorne will come out with a hero status amongst his young followers.
Thorne, who has a large social media following, told a court earlier this month that he booked plane tickets from Perth to Sydney under a fake name because he wanted to avoid attention from the media and from law enforcement.
He offered to take part in an anti-extremism program with Curtin University professor Anne Aly to avoid going to jail but a District Court judge said Thorne had deliberately evaded the authorities and a strong message needed to be sent to the community.
He was given an eight month sentence on August 6, with a non-parole period of three months.
Dr Aly, who provided a reference for Thorne, said he needed to serve his time but putting him in SuperMax will be "incredibly counter-productive".
"To be put in a maximum-security prison for that short amount of time, for such a minor offence, it's not moving towards any kind of rehabilitation."
Brett Collins, co-ordinator of prisoner advocacy group Justice Action, said: "If he wasn't militant before he went in there, he will certainly come out with a degree of anger he didn't have before."
