'Inmate justice can be swift, cruel and efficient': Father-of-two charged with kidnapping a girl, 7, from Kmart and sexually assaulting her in bushland 'will have a target on his back' in jail
- Sterling Free is accused of kidnapping a girl, 7, from a Queensland Kmart store
- The 26-year-old allegedly took her to bushland and sexually assaulted the girl
- Free will enter the prison system as a despised inmate with a target on his back
Sterling Mervyn Free, 26, is accused of kidnapping a girl, 7, from a Brisbane Kmart and sexually assaulting her in nearby bush
The father-of-two accused of kidnapping a seven-year-old girl from a Kmart and sexually assaulting her in bushland will have a target on his back that will stay with him while in custody.
Sterling Mervyn Free has been refused bail on charges of kidnapping and indecent treatment of a child under 12 and every inmate he encounters will know exactly what he has allegedly done.
Former prison governor John Heffernan told Daily Mail Australia that Free would have entered custody with a reputation which put him among the 'lowest of the low'.
'What he's allegedly done is about as low as it gets,' Mr Heffernan said.
'Any child molestation or anything like that, you've got a target on your back, straight away. As soon as you go into jail you've got a very big target on your back.
'And you're very, very lucky if you can get through your time without somebody trying to make a name for themselves or trying to square up and initiate inmate justice.
'Inmate justice can be swift and very cruel and very efficient.'
Sterling Free (left and right) was arrested on Monday and charged with taking a child for immoral purposes, deprivation of liberty and indecent treatment of a child under 12
Free allegedly kidnapped the seven-year-old girl from this Kmart store north of Brisbane
Police allege Free took the girl to nearby bushland where he is accused of sexually assaulting her. Pictured is a stretch of land near where the alleged assault is believed to have occurred
Free, 26, is alleged to have kidnapped the seven-year-old while she shopped with her mother at a Kmart store in Westfield North Lakes, north of Brisbane, on Saturday afternoon.
He is accused of driving the girl to bushland at nearby Pumicestone Passage and sexually assaulting her before returning her to the store.
Free was arrested on Monday and charged with taking a child for immoral purposes, deprivation of liberty and indecent treatment of a child under 12. He has been in custody at the Pine Rivers watch house.
Mr Heffernan, author of books including The Last Governor Diaries, said Free would be immediately segregated in prison but might not be safe from other inmates on protection.
'What they call "rock spiders" - child molesters - are despised among the protection prisoners themselves,' he said.
'They can put him on strict protection, which essentially means 23 hours is spent in your cells with one hour of exercise if you're lucky.'
The seven-year-old girl was allegedly snatched from the toy aisle of a Kmart store at Westfield North Lakes, north of Brisbane. Daily Mail Australia visited the store on Wednesday (pictured)
Authorities may later reconsider Free's circumstances 'and the mood of the other crims in the unit' and agree to let him associate with his fellow prisoners on protection.
'But it doesn't always work, as in the Brett Cowan situation,' Mr Heffernan said.
Cowan is the despised paedophile who kidnapped and murdered 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in 2003.
Former prison governor John Heffernan says Sterling Free will be targeted inside jail
Since being in custody Cowan has been the subject of inmate attacks including having boiling water poured over his body.
Mr Heffernan said a similar fate could await an inmate such as Free.
'Somebody takes a complete dislike to him and throws a bucket of hot water over him or something like that,' he said.
'Sometimes that contains sugar which means it sticks to the skin. Sometimes they'll do that.'
'Rock spiders really are despised among all prisoners, even amongst the protection prisoners.'
Mr Heffernan said all maximum security prisons had a hierarchy among inmates.
'Usually at the top of the pecking order are the lifers,' he said. 'Murderers, armed robbers are looked up to in the system essentially because they've got nothing to lose.
'They can assault another inmate and so what if they get extra time. They're at the top of the pecking order.
'Below that are just the ones that are out to do their time.
Brett Cowan has been attacked in jail since he was imprisoned for the murder of Daniel Morcombe. On one occasion he had a bucket of boiling water poured over his body
An artist's representation of how Brett Cowan looked after being doused with boiling water in jail in an attack that left him with gruesome burns
'At the bottom of the pecking order are usually the druggies and those that have drug-related offences.
'They're the group that aren't particularly liked by the lifers or those higher in the pecking order.
'They're looked down on because they spend most of their time trying to find drugs and they bring attention to everybody in doing that. So they're pretty low on the order.
'Below that is the protections. They're the lowest of the low if you like. They're the ones that are despised by pretty much everyone.
'But amongst them are those that are in for child-related offences who are even shunned by the protections themselves.'
That is where Free fits in the system and every other inmate will know who he is.
'The inmate grapevine works very quickly and quite efficiently,' Mr Heffernan said.
'When an inmate comes into jail, a high-profile inmate who's been in the news, they're instantly recognised and they receive the treatment they so deserve.
'So life is never easy and nor should it be.'
Mr Heffernan said publicity about a crime might die down but the attention never disappeared.
'Maybe the jail feels comfortable in letting them back into the main protection area or the main population and a news outlet might do a story on them and away it goes again.
'So they're never free of it. It's always something they've got to live with. And so be it.'
The girl, 7, was allegedly abducted from this Westfield at North Lakes, north of Brisbane
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