The Princess Alexandra Hospital has a secure unit for the purposes of treating prisoners. Brett Peter Cowan, jailed for the murder of Daniel Morcombe, has been attacked in prison. A source told Fairfax Media Cowan wasn't expected to spend an extended period at the hospital before being transferred back to the Wolston Correctional Centre. EARLIER The murderer of Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe has been taken to hospital after another inmate threw boiling water on him.

Paramedics were called to the Wolston Correctional Centre just before 9.30am on Friday and treated Brett Peter Cowan for burns. Cowan killed Daniel Morcombe in 2003. His lawyer has questioned whether the prison failed in its duty of care. A spokeswoman said the prisoner had scalding to his head, chest and legs from boiling water. He was taken to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

It's understood a fellow inmate poured boiling water on Cowan, 46, but it's not clear how badly he was burnt. A Queensland Corrective Services spokeswoman said correctional officers discovered Cowan's injuries about 9.15am and called paramedics immediately. "The prisoner was conscious and lucid and was conveyed to a Brisbane hospital for treatment. An update on his condition is not known at this stage," she said in a statement. "Another prisoner is being interviewed in relation to the incident. "The matter is being investigated by the Queensland Police Service's Corrective Services Investigation Unit and the QCS's Office of the Chief Inspector."

Cowan, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2014 of Daniel's murder, was reportedly moved from a police cell earlier this year to a less-protected area of the prison. His lawyer, Bosscher Lawyers' Tim Meehan, questioned whether prison management had failed in its duty of care to the murderer. "I understand that there's an awful lot of ill feeling towards him but vigilante justice is something that has never been condoned by the courts," he told News Corp. "He is in jail as punishment for his crime and it's not for others who are in jail – serving punishment for their crimes – to serve out summary justice." In March this year, Australia's highest court refused Cowan's application to appeal against his murder conviction.

Cowan has now exhausted all legal avenues for appeal and will spend at least another 15 years in jail. In March 2014, he was found guilty of the murder of Daniel, who disappeared on December 7, 2003, while waiting for a bus on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. The 13-year-old planned to catch the bus to the local shopping centre to buy Christmas presents. On August 13, 2011, Cowan was arrested as a result of covert police operation and charged with murder. Loading

A police search of a property on Kings Road at Glass House Mountains, north of Brisbane, eventually uncovered human bones confirmed by DNA tests to be Daniel's. Stay informed. Like the Brisbane Times Facebook page