The Northern Rivers Times Edition 6
Headline
PRISON STAFF PACK IT IN
By Tim Howard
AS MANY as 50 newly recruited
prison officers at the new Clarence
Correctional Centre (pictured) quit the
job within weeks of starting work at the
new state of the art prison.
The figure does not come from official
sources, but from a former governor of
the old Grafton Jail, John Heffernan.
Mr Heffernan (pictured, inset), the
author of The Last Governor, a book
about his experiences in the prison
system, culminating with his period as
governor at Grafton, also administers
a Facebook page, which has become
a lightning rod for prison staff to vent
their frustrations.
His page, also called The Last
Governor, has more than 22,000
followers.
The media regularly seek his opinion
on the state of the prison system,
publishing his articles or using him as an
expert source.
Mr Heffernan said he believed as many
a 50 recently recruited staff at the jail had
quit, disillusioned with the workload.
“When it was all bright and shiny and
new
