Correctional Officer Thomas Jackson was stabbed to death when he was attacked by three inmates during a prison riot at the Moberly Correctional Center.

On July 3, 1983, Officer Thomas Jackson and a team of six officers had gone into a common area to subdue a group of prisoners who had become intoxicated on home-made alcohol. The officers were rushed by thirty-five inmates. Three of the prisoners attacked Officer Jackson and fatally wounded him, stabbed him in the four or five times in the chest with a shank. Four other guards received injuries with one taken to Boone Hospital Center in Columbia.

Officer Jackson was a veteran of World War II and served with the U.S. Coast Guard. Interred: Oakland Cemetery, Moberly, Missouri.

Prisoner Roy Roberts, who originally rallied the prisoners to keep officers from taking a prisoner from the cell block, held Officer Jackson so the other two could stab him was sentenced to death and executed on March 10, 1999. Robert Driscoll was sentenced to death for stabbing Officer Jackson. His conviction was reversed by the US Appellate court based upon ineffective counsel and technical issues with the trial. Driscoll was then found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years. Rodney Carr was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for 50 years. At the time of the murder the 316 inmate capacity facility held 521 prisoners.