The passage of a new law permitting corrections employees to store personal firearms at work will improve their safety, said a U.S. Penitentiary at Allenwood union representative.
The U.S. Senate approved Sen. Pat Toomey's bipartisan criminal justice reform that provides a secure area in prisons for federal corrections officers to leave personal firearms while they are at work.
“Federal correctional officers place themselves in harm’s way every day to protect the rest of us,” Toomey said. “Given the dangers they face, correctional officers should have the ability to defend themselves while on and off duty. This legislation will directly benefit the officers who serve at Pennsylvania's seven federally-operated prison facilities. I am proud to have led the fight for this commonsense measure.”
The approved bill was named after Osvaldo Albarati, a federal corrections officer in Puerto Rico who was shot to death in 2013 while driving from work. Three inmates hired the shooter, which prompted an outcry against the Bureau of Prisons policy that had forbidden prison employees to carry firearms to and from work and left Albarati unable to defend himself.
"Corrections professionals have been the target of violence, not only inside our nation's prisons but outside the secure facilities as well. The bipartisan efforts of Senator Toomey will result in our officers being a lot safer today than they were yesterday," said Shane Fausey, president of Local 4047 and vice president of Voices of JOE, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting the safety of corrections officers. "The unfortunate loss of Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati will be honored in the passage of this long-overdue and vitally important piece of common sense legislation."
Groups that endorsed the legislation include the AFGE Council of Prison Locals, AFL-CIO; Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and National Association of Police Organizations.
There are two federally operated prisons in the Susquehanna Valley, the Allenwood facility and the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg.