One week before Christmas, correctional officer Nathan Fuller went to Kempsey prison thinking it would be an ordinary day at work but when 6pm rolled around, he left on a stretcher - beaten, bruised and bloodied.
In December 2020, two prisoners detained at the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre ambushed Mr Fuller, beating, stabbing and holding him as ransom for opioids.
Each offender pleaded guilty after being charged with two counts of property damage and two counts of taking or detaining to get an advantage occasioning actual bodily harm.
The leader of the hostage situation, known in the NSW District Court as DM, was sentenced to 13 years in prison with a non-parole period of eight years and six months.
The 22-year-old offender was already serving a 35-year sentence for a murder he committed when he was 16.
This means DM will not leave prison until he is at least 45 years old in 2046 and will have spent almost two-thirds of his life up to that point in jail.
Co-offender Noel Barrett, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with a non-parole period of six years and six months.
On December 19, 2020, Barrett and DM charged at Mr Fuller as he and a colleague unlocked an office door.
While the other correctional officer eventually managed to escape, DM pressed a sharp "jail-made weapon" against Mr Fuller's neck and placed him into a kneeling position yelling, "I want my bupe injection" and threatening to kill his hostage if he didn't get it.
Bupe is short for buprenorphine, a prescription opioid used to treat pain and heroin or opioid addiction. It can be administered at prisons to help those with substance abuse issues, but neither DM nor Barrett were on the list to receive the drug at the time.
As the hours passed, the two men continued to assault Mr Fuller, spitting on him, stabbing him with a shiv, punching him until he lost vision, dousing him with cleaning fluids which caused severe chemical burns, and spraying him with insect repellent before threatening to set him alight.
When handing down the sentences on Friday, Judge Adam Coleman said the offenders showed "gratuitous cruelty" to Mr Fuller.
"The cruelty of the assaults effectively amounted to torture," he told the court.
DM and Barrett surrendered their weapons after a six-hour siege and have since been transferred to a high-risk offenders centre, but Judge Coleman had doubts about their prospects for rehabilitation.
He acknowledged that both men had grown up in disrupted households surrounded by drug addiction, domestic abuse and mental health issues, and noted the "devastating clarity" this had on their lives.
While Barrett has shown feelings of regret, DM has not expressed remorse nor accepted responsibility for his actions.
Meanwhile, Mr Fuller and his colleague have made a recovery but both suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other physical and mental ailments as a result of the assault.
"What should have been an ordinary day at work has ended with what may be lifelong psychological consequences and limited career prospects as a result of the brazen offending," Judge Coleman said.
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