The father of a Massachusetts correction officer is working with other officers and legislators to change state law after his son was left critically injured by an inmate.Officer Matt Tidman, 36, was working at MCI-Shirley on Aug. 31 when an inmate attacked him with a metal bar that was taken from a weight-lifting machine."I got the phone call that parents dread," said John Tidman, the officer's father.Officer Tidman remains in intensive care at a Boston hospital with severe head and neck injuries."We were well aware of Matthew's working conditions and we never took light of it," John Tidman said. "We took it very seriously (but) without dread."On Thursday, a group of bipartisan state lawmakers toured MCI-Shirley and met with the injured officer's family after hearing about what happened to Matt Tidman inside the medium- and minimum-security facility that houses male inmates."You had a convicted murderer from another prison, who was threatening the guards in that prison in another state, allowed to come to Massachusetts and be let loose in an environment that he shouldn't have been in," said state Rep. Steven Xiarhos, a Republican representing the 5th Barnstable District and former deputy chief of the Yarmouth Police Department."The safeguards have to be put in place to prevent this happening again. As we're sitting here, there are correction officers working in that Shirley medium-care facility that are at risk," John Tidman said. "You have to have qualified people running prisons and transporting prisoners and running the paperwork that can prevent this from happening in the future.“They are at risk if this type of action continues where the filtering of a convict that is a high-risk or violent person is filtered into people that are less violent," he added. "The outcome is obvious, I think.”Xiarhos is pushing for all free weights to be permanently removed from state prisons. John Tidman is also joining the effort to draft new legislation that would help correction officers safe and in charge."Talking with the correction officers, they feel that the vote is always swayed in the favor of the prisoners, to the point where they're saying that the prisoners are running the prison," John Tidman said."Too many people up on Beacon Hill listen only to the advocates and they don't listen to the people who are in the trenches, on the front line," said state Rep. Timothy Whelan, a Republican representing the 1st Barnstable District who is running to become sheriff of Barnstable County.Members of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union are also sharing their concerns about staffing, funding and other changes they want to see."Things like a classification system, inmate accountability, the reduction and abolishment of segregation units," said Kevin Flanagan, legislative representative for the union.Massachusetts Department of Correction spokesperson Jason Dobson said weight rooms are currently closed throughout the prison system while the DOC conducts an assessment.Without providing specific information about the inmate accused of the assault, Dobson said it is standard procedure in a situation like this to separate the inmate from the general population and conduct an internal discipline process.Xiarhos told NewsCenter 5's Sharman Sacchetti that the inmate allegedly involved in the attack on Officer Tidman was moved to another facility.Click here to reach a GoFundMe page that has been set up for Officer Matt Tidman and his family.