SENIOR PRISON OFFICER
GEORGE MORRIS – A TRUE LEADER
George Morris was a Senior Prison Officer who was a real
rough diamond in the true meaning of the term.
He was English and very rough around the edges. This man was never going
to be the Commissioner of Corrective Services.
Although he really knew his job, the Department could have done with a
few more good men like him.
One night on the “C” watch in the CIP, Mr Morris and I
entered a cell on the top landing of 4 wing so as to allow the “C” watch nurse
to give the prisoner in that cell an injection.
When the sister gave the injection to the prisoner his heart
stopped instantly. The sister stepped back and just stood there looking at the
prisoner. She went very pale in the
face. I have no idea if she gave him the wrong injection or if the prisoner was
allergic to whatever the injection was.
Without hesitation, Mr Morris immediately started to give the
prisoner heart compressions. He looked
at me and instructed me to take over. I
said “I don’t know how, I haven’t been trained to do it”. He bellowed back
“Just do what I’m doing”. So I did! I
asked him, “Is this right” and he quickly replied “Yes, just keep doing that
I’ll be back in a moment”. With that Mr Morris left the cell with the night
sister. I was left in the cell on my own giving compressions to a dead man.
It only seemed like a few seconds and Mr Morris appeared at
the cell door with a stretcher and four prison officers. He instructed me to
keep doing compressions and for the other officers to lift the prisoner onto
the stretcher. As the prisoner landed on
the stretcher we hurried out the cell door and down the stairs. Mr Morris kept reassuring me I was doing well
with my compressions.
We took the prisoner straight out the front gate and ran up
the road with the prisoner still on the stretcher and me giving compressions as
we went. All of the normal protocols and procedures were dispensed with for
transferring a prisoner from one gaol to another.
As we arrived at the MRP gate the officers were waiting for
us and one half of the main gate flew open. We went straight through the second
gate turned right and headed for the prison hospital.
The prisoner was carried into ward one where a doctor and two
nursing sisters were waiting for us. The doctor instructed me to keep doing
compressions, a nurse put an oxygen mask on the prisoner and the doctor gave
him an injection. With that the prisoner
opened his eyes and started to breathe again.
It was Mr Morris’s ability to remain calm and in control in
that situation, along with his understanding that there were occasions within
the strict prison discipline, where it was necessary to throw the rule book
out. Most of all it was his organisational
skills that ultimately saved that young prisoner’s life. Mr Morris should have received a special
commendation for his actions that day.
Peter T. Egge
