Mick Clifford: Prison officers should protect each other, so what went wrong?

Some officers were alleged to have encouraged dangerous prisoners to think the worst of other officers to the point where these prisoners might have been moved to violence

Freddie Thompson (pictured) told the investigator that one of the senior officers, in particular, was targeted in this manner to the extent that it “may put his life in danger if prisoners were to believe that he was lying and could not be believed”.

Exercising a duty of care and security to some of the most dangerous prisoners in the state is a task that can bring exceptional stress. 

These individuals, nearly all incarcerated for violent crimes, including murder, are often unstable and easily given to violence. So being detailed to work in close proximity to such prisoners would require a certain esprit de corps, whereby staff rely heavily on each other, or, to put it plainly, have each other’s backs.