The concept of the family of nursing is difficult to grapple with if you are a nurse working in the prison health care service. If there is such a family, one has to ask, with so many members and with so many disparate interests to defend, how does one go about pulling it all together if you are the family head? How does one go about getting other family members to understand what you are trying to achieve? Like all families — and nursing is no different — members have times when they feel that they need to flex their muscles or just let people know they are around by creating a fuss.