Bali Nine member Michael Czugaj was moved from Indonesia's notorious Kerobokan prison because of overcrowding, not drugs, officials at the Java jail where he is now being held say.
Czugaj was sentenced to life imprisonment after the then-19-year-old was arrested at Denpasar Airport in April 2005 with heroin strapped to his body.
He was one of more than 60 prisoners who were moved in the early hours of April 27 from the Bali jail to Madiun prison in East Java.
At the time Kerobokan prison authorities alleged he was moved after being found with less than a gram of "sabu sabu" or ice.
But Madiun prison's head of security Tjahja Rediantana has told AAP they were given a different story.
"According to our document, he's not moved because of a drug problem. Along with other foreign inmates from Iran, they're moved because of security reason, because there was a riot there in Kerobokan," he told AAP.
He said the Australian was adapting well to life at Madiun prison and there had been no signs of drug use there.
Mr Rediantana said Czugaj may ask to be moved to Tangerang Prison, west of Jakarta, so he can be closer to the capital's airport - making it easier for family and friends to visit.
When AAP contacted Kerobokan prison governor Slamet Prihantara for clarification, he claimed Czugaj was moved because of both drugs and rioting.
Tina Bailey, who assists with programs inside Kerobokan prison and visited Madiun on Monday, said Czugaj appeared to be in good spirits at the Java jail.
She too had been told he was moved because of rioting, not drugs.
Prison riots have been erupting across Indonesia as a result of chronic overcrowding for several years.
Just days before Czugaj was moved a riot broke out in Kerobokan, with inmates lighting fires.
In December, then-governor of Kerobokan prison Sunarto Bondan was stood down after two inmates were killed in a gang fight.
Corrections Directorate general spokesman Akbar Hadi Prabowo said they are urging the government to inject another 1.3 trillion rupiah (A$1.3 billion) to combat overcrowding and improve security.
In June this year, the number of people imprisoned was around 193,000 nationwide but jails had a capacity of only around 119,000, he explained.
"This is the root of problems," he told AAP.
Funds would be used to fix prisons damaged from fires during riots, finishing prisons under construction, creating more high-risk cells, renovating industrial prisons, and also providing better services.
