Hinch walks free after 50-day jail-term

Outspoken broadcaster Derryn Hinch was on the same prison floor as Melbourne woman Jill Meagher's killer while he served a sentence for breaching a suppression order about the man.

The 70-year-old was locked up for 50 days after refusing to pay a $100,000 for breaching a court suppression order.

He emerged from Langi Kal Kal prison, northwest of Melbourne, on Friday morning, minus his famous beard.

At the time, he said he was prepared to spend time behind bars as a 'matter of principle' and today insisted he has no regrets.

"I’m not sorry I did it," he told the Seven Network. "It was the right thing to do."

Hinch said his initial stint at an assessment prison was tough, but the country prison where Hinch, who has long campaigned to name and shame pedophiles, served his sentence with predominantly sex offenders was like the 'Hilton'.

Hinch still insists he is innocent of deliberate contempt of court and has not ruled out returning to prison for his cause, saying "never, say never".

He says he spent his first weeks in solitary confinement in the Melbourne Assessment Prison, where he shared a floor with the man jailed for Ms Meagher's murder.

"Jill Meagher's killer, he was sort of the reason I was in there and he and I were in the same prison, same floor, nearly adjacent cells," he told Fairfax Radio.

"I thought isn't it weird we are doing the same sentence at the moment for at least a couple of weeks."

Hinch spent his first two weeks in solitary, where he was on 23-hour lockdown, with the air conditioning not working properly on a 40 degree day.

He was later transferred to Langi Kal Kal Prison, which he said was too comfortable, with good food and grounds where prisoners could take a 5km walk.

The outspoken former radio broadcaster said he tried to keep clear of other prisoners and did not get into trouble.

Hinch has vowed to continue pushing for a national public register of convicted sex offenders.

He said his jail-time only made him even more committed to campaigning for tougher sentences.

“Ive come out of a place where 93 per cent of prisoners are sex offenders," he said.

"I know what they look like, you don’t. When they come out, they could be living next door to you, they could be your neighbour."

Asked if he would go to prison again, Hinch replied: "I told a judge that I would try and find other ways to do it and that's what I intend to do, but I'd never say never."

Hinch was greeted by a throng of cheering supporters, and a cake to mark his 70th birthday, which he spent behind bars.

Hinch was found guilty of contempt of court in October last year for breaching a suppression order relating to murdered Melbourne woman Jill Meagher.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kaye said the former broadcaster's web posts, in which he breached the order, had been populist, self-serving and grossly irresponsible.

It was Hinch's sixth conviction for contempt of court or related offences, a record which Justice Kaye said was disgraceful.

Hinch served 12 days in jail in 1987 for contempt of court after he revealed pedophile priest Michael Glennon's prior conviction while a trial was pending.

He was also sentenced to five months' home detention in 2011 after publishing the suppressed identities of sex offenders.