Bruce McLeod

Bruce McLeod is the pen name of a serving Corrections Officer with over two decades inside the Australian prison system.

He doesn’t write about criminals. He writes about the people who have to face them every day.

His Justifying series is about the psychological cost of service, the quiet accumulation of trauma, and what happens when a good person carries too much for too long. The books draw on lived experience inside one of the most confronting and least understood parts of the justice system — where officers act as first responders to violence, medical emergencies, and mental health crises, then go home and try to live normal lives.

Justifying The Means, the first novel in the series, was written in memory of his close friend and colleague Brian, whose murder left a permanent mark — and became the emotional core of the story.

Through the character of Jacob Daniels, McLeod explores loyalty, grief, moral injury, and the moment when duty finally gives way to something darker.

He writes about the people who do the unthinkable so others don’t have to — and who are usually only noticed when something goes wrong.