Union President Dennis Martin said the inmates attacked from behind, calling the incident an "attempted murder."

A corrections officer is lucky to be alive after an assault inside a maximum security prison on Wednesday, according to his union.

Massachusetts prison guard was reportedly stabbed 12 times in ‘vicious attack… an attempted murder on a correction officer’

Sanford also supplied latex gloves and glue to the inmate to help conceal the illicit items.The drugs - which were procured from one of the inmate's associates - were then trafficked to other inmates.

The investigation continues into a violent incident where two correction officers were stabbed and three others injured on Wednesday afternoon at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster,