Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, we are just having some discussion about the order of bills. Thank you so very much for your indulgence.

I want to ask if the ranking member has any additional speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First of all, let me thank Congressman Raskin for the diligent work that he has done on the Judiciary Committee, as a whole, but particularly his assistance today for those of us who were flying in.

This is a particularly important bill because I have just had the opportunity to visit with corrections officers

in a correction center in New York. It was both an informational opportunity and tour of the facility, but also, it was enormously instructive.

First, I want to honor Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati, correctional officer in the Self-Protection Act, and I want to thank the author of the legislation. It is clear that this is a very important addition to both respecting, and, as well, protecting correctional officers. It is a bipartisan, commonsense bill, as has been indicated, and specifically provides for Federal Bureau of Prisons correctional officers to carry personal firearms for protection as they commute to and from their jobs.

Listening to these correctional officers, sitting down with them, you know that there is a passion for their work. You also know that they want those who are incarcerated to do well, to restore their lives, to be rehabilitated.

So there is a mutual desire for a betterment of society, and I believe that this is important in as much as the story of Lieutenant Albarati is a sad one, for he was ambushed and murdered as he drove home from his job at a Bureau detention center, and he was specifically targeted for the work he did at the institution.

So this is an important way of honoring him, but also recognizing, which we often don't take note in this week of saluting our law enforcement officers. Sometimes we do not acknowledge the correctional officers all throughout the Nation, and as well, those who are in State and local government. I want to acknowledge them today as part of law enforcement and to indicate that this is an important component to making sure they are safe and that they go home safely to their families.

I do want to say that I appreciate those correctional officers that met with me to discuss how to improve the correctional institution, the need for staffing, and the commitment that we will work together, getting information from them, and as well, providing the resources that they need.

Let me make this final point: that our correctional officers are in all jurisdictions. Some are in urban centers, some in rural areas. And so this legislation, obviously, will be guided by the appropriate laws that deal with the carrying of weapons in their jurisdiction. But the important point is that we provide them with a place to store those weapons so that they are safe within the laws of their particular area going to and fro. I think that is the least we can do.

And I rise to support this legislation and to indicate that there are those of us who believe in real gun safety legislation, with no undermining of the Second Amendment, that can clearly see the correctness, if you will, and the rightness, if you will, of a commonsense approach to protecting individuals who are set to protect us or to do a law enforcement position.

And for that reason, let me thank the author of the legislation, let me salute law enforcement officers this week, and take note of saluting the late Lieutenant Albarati, and all of those correctional officers, and ask our colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 613, the ``Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2017.''

I support this bipartisan, commonsense bill, which will facilitate the ability of Federal Bureau of Prisons correctional officers to carry personal firearms for protection as they commute to and from their jobs.

H.R. 613 would allow the Bureau's correctional officers to protect themselves, if necessary, without jeopardizing the safety and security of the facilities in which they work.

Currently, Bureau of Prisons correctional officers are authorized to carry concealed firearms for self-protection while off duty under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. This bill would not alter this existing privilege.

Instead, because there currently is no mechanism to allow these correctional officers to store firearms they might carry during their commutes to and from Bureau of Prison facilities, they are precluded from bringing their personal firearms onto the premises of these facilities and are, in effect, thereby precluded from carrying firearms for personal protection as they travel to and from work.

To address this issue, H.R. 613 would require the Bureau of Prisons to allow properly qualified correctional officers to bring personal firearms onto the premises of Bureau facilities in a manner that minimizes any possible security or safety risks.

The Bureau would be required to either provide correctional officers with a secure storage area for their firearms--located outside the secure perimeter--or allow the officers to store their firearms in vehicle lockboxes approved by the Bureau.

Without question, correctional officers perform an essential function within our criminal justice system. And, we depend on them to ensure Bureau facilities are safe, secure, and managed efficiently.

For some correctional officers, the inability to carry a firearm to and from work could leave them vulnerable to those who might seek to do them harm.

In fact, this bill is named in honor of Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati, a Bureau officer who was ambushed and murdered as he drove home from his job at a Bureau detention center. Lieutenant Albarati was specifically targeted for the work he did at the institution. So in honor of him and all other officers, this legislation is put forth, which will help prevent future lethal attacks on these officers.

Accordingly, I commend my colleagues and others for bringing this important measure forward and encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 613) to amend title 18, United States Code, to require that the Director of the Bureau of Prisons ensure that each chief executive officer of a Federal penal or correctional institution provides a secure storage area located outside of the secure perimeter of the Federal penal or correctional institution for firearms carried by certain employees of the Bureau of Prisons, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 613, currently under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in 2004 Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, LEOSA. LEOSA allows certain law enforcement officers, including correctional officers of the Bureau of Prisons, the right to carry a concealed firearm throughout the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and all other U.S. territories for self- defense and the defense of others. LEOSA also allows law enforcement officers to carry their firearms while off duty.

These laws help keep citizens safe, but there is still room for improvement. For example, the Bureau of Prisons does not permit its correctional officers to safely store their personal firearms in a secure locker at its facilities, and employees are otherwise prohibited from storing them in their personal vehicles while parked on Bureau of Prisons property. This leaves correctional workers vulnerable to attack during their commutes to and from work.

Sadly, an attack on a correctional officer while commuting to or from a prison is not a hypothetical situation. On the evening of February 26, 2013, Bureau of Prisons Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati was ambushed and murdered while on his way home from work.

According to court documents, the shooting was a hit ordered by Federal inmates housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Authorities believe that Lieutenant Albarati's murder was a direct result of his work at the prison; specifically, in retaliation for his investigations into cell phone smuggling at the MDC and the seizure of contraband.

Lieutenant Albarati was ambushed during his drive home, shot 16 times, and died at the scene. He was 39 years old.

On January 28, 2015, a Federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a six-count indictment charging nine individuals for the murder of Lieutenant Albarati. In January of 2016, Federal prosecutors notified the district court of their intention to seek the death penalty. Trial preparation is ongoing in that case.

Mr. Speaker, Lieutenant Albarati's family has yet to receive justice for this senseless, despicable act, but we, as a legislative body, can do our best to ensure this never happens again. To that end, H.R. 613 makes a commonsense amendment to Federal law to address the problem highlighted by this tragedy.

This bipartisan bill, cosponsored by 54 of our colleagues, would direct the Bureau of Prisons to provide a secure storage area located outside the secure perimeter of each Bureau of Prisons facility where correctional officers will be able to store their personal firearms and allow employees to store firearms

in a vehicle lockbox approved by the Bureau of Prisons.

This is important, reasonable legislation. With its passage, the House honors the life of a brave man who served his community faithfully and one day made the ultimate sacrifice.

I want to thank the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley) for introducing this legislation. I also want to thank Lieutenant Albarati's widow, Helen, who is here with us today in the gallery, for her tireless efforts to ensure her husband's death was not in vain.

We salute you and we thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as we begin the 2018 Police Week, I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Let us do our best to protect those who protect us.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley), the chief sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the chairman does not have any additional speakers. I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the remainder of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is very fitting, as we begin Police Week, that we pass this important piece of legislation that makes it very clear that our sworn officers, who keep people safe but risk their own lives and work in our Bureau of Prisons, have the opportunity to have a firearm when they are traveling to and from work.

It is not practical the way the current rules work. This law is vitally needed to help save lives. I know that Mrs. Albarati is here to see that that happens, and I commend her. I admire her courage, and we should not allow her husband's life to be lost in vain. Let's pass this legislation and make sure it doesn't happen to others in the future. I urge my colleagues to vote for the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, this week, the House took another crucial step to ensure our nation's corrections officers, who risk their lives every day to keep us safe, are also able to protect themselves and their families.

I am proud to cosponsor H.R. 613, the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act, which directs the Bureau of Prisons to provide secure locations at federal prison facilities for corrections officers to store personal firearms so that officers can protect themselves during their commute to and from work. I hope the Senate will act quickly so President Trump can sign this bill into law and ensure no family has to suffer the way Lieutenant Albarati's has.

The passage of this legislation, which is part of the larger commemoration of National Police Week, is especially important to me as five years ago, one of my constituents, Senior Correctional Officer Eric Williams, was brutally murdered by convicted gang assassin Jessie Con-ui while he was on duty at the United States Prison at Canaan.

Officer Williams was unarmed and outnumbered during his shift, which left him to the mercy of the inmates around him. During his patrol, he was ambushed by Con-ui, knocked down a flight of steps, then brutally stabbed more than 200 times with a homemade shank.

I have had the privilege of working with Officer Williams' parents, Don and Jean, who are tireless advocates for our nation's corrections officers. Today, they help lead an organization called ``Voices of JOE,''--the letters of J-O-E standing for Jose Rivera, Osvaldo Albarati, and Eric Williams, who were all killed because of their jobs in our correctional system.

``Voices of JOE'' is an advocacy group comprised of corrections officers, first responders, administrators, union personnel, and family members. This group is a staunch advocate that gives a voice to the men and women on the front lines protecting communities around the country.

Together with Don, Jean, and ``Voices of JOE,'' we were able to get the Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act signed into law in March 2016. This bill supplies pepper spray to federal prison officers or employees who may respond to emergencies with inmates. I am proud that Eric's legacy lives on through the thousands of men and women who will now be able to defend themselves while they are at work.

Con-ui, a member of the violent New Mexican Mafia gang, was already serving a life sentence prior to murdering Officer Williams. Federal law provides for the penalty of death in the most severe crimes, including those involving the vicious murder of law enforcement officers and prison guards. However, despite a federal jury finding him guilty of the brutal murder of Officer Williams, Con-ui received essentially no additional punishment because one juror out of twelve would not vote for a death penalty sentence.

To right this wrong, Congressman Tom Marino and I worked with the Williams family to introduce H.R. 4493, Eric's Law. This legislation aims to deliver justice to victims and their families in federal death penalty cases by permitting prosecutors to impanel a second jury for sentencing if the first jury fails to reach a unanimous sentencing decision.

As we commemorate National Police Week, we recognize men like Officer Eric Williams and families like Don and Jean Williams, and we thank them for their sacrifices. For them, Mr. Speaker, and for all of our correctional officers who risk their lives every day, the House must continue to act on bills like H.R. 613 that will ensure these brave men and women have the tools they need to keep themselves and their communities safe.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 613, the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2017. I support this bipartisan and commonsense bill to facilitate the ability of Federal Bureau of Prisons correctional officers to carry personal firearms for protection as they commute to and from their jobs.

This bill would allow the Bureau's correctional officers to protect themselves without jeopardizing the safety and the security of the facilities in which they work.

Currently, Bureau of Prisons correctional officers are authorized to carry concealed firearms for self-protection while off duty under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, and this bill doesn't alter that existing privilege.

Instead, because there is no mechanism today to allow these correctional officers to store firearms that they might carry during their commutes to and from work, they are precluded from bringing their personal firearms onto the premises of these facilities and are therefore, in effect, precluded from carrying firearms for personal protection as they travel to and from the workplace.

To address this problem, H.R. 613 requires the Bureau of Prisons to allow properly qualified correctional officers to bring their firearms onto the premises of Bureau facilities in a manner that minimizes possible security and safety risks.

The Bureau would be required to either provide correctional officers with a secure storage area for their firearms located outside the secure perimeter of the prison or allow the officers to store their firearms in vehicle lockboxes approved by the Bureau.

Without question, correctional officers perform an essential and, indeed, an indispensable function within our criminal justice system, and we depend on them to keep all of our facilities safe, secure, and efficiently run for everyone. For some correctional officers, the inability to carry a firearm to and from work could leave them vulnerable to someone attempting to do them harm.

This bill is named, as my distinguished colleague from Virginia said, in honor of Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati, a Bureau officer who was ambushed and murdered as he drove home from his job at a Bureau detention center. Lieutenant Albarati was specifically targeted for the work he was doing at the institution.

We hope this legislation will prevent any future lethal attack on our officers. Accordingly, I would commend Mr. Goodlatte and others, the sponsor of the bill, for bringing this important measure forward, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as we recognize our hardworking law enforcement officers across America this week and honor those, like Lieutenant Albarati, who have given their lives to keep the rest of us safe, I am very proud to reiterate my support for the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the ranking member of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, to control.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 613, the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act, and urge its immediate passage.

Mr. Speaker, every year when we are back in the district I conduct over 300 meetings with constituents to understand some of the issues they are facing. That might be from senior citizens, to nurses, to school teachers, to correctional officers. We do this on an annual basis to listen and learn and bring back their concerns, what is affecting them, back to Washington, so we can work on legislation.

These meetings shape a large portion of the legislation our office works on. When student veterans in our district told us they were having problems using their GI Bill benefits to pay for their degrees, we came back and passed legislation to address that issue.

When the story of correctional officer Eric Williams' brutal murder was brought to our attention, we developed and passed legislation allowing officers to carry pepper spray, simple pepper spray, at all times. Now, when that was adopted, that might have prevented his death by inmates who took his life.

Now, correctional officers in our district have brought us other concerns about being targeted when they finish their shift and leave prison for the day. We heard the story about how Lieutenant Albarati was targeted and brutally murdered on his way home from work at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Puerto Rico.

All this was in retaliation for his investigation into a cellphone smuggling ring that was occurring in the prison. He was targeted, shot, chased, and killed after leaving work that day.

Correctional officers often find themselves as targets, we are hearing, for retaliatory attacks for what they have done at work. Unfortunately, Bureau of Prison policy prohibits officers from carrying or storing their personal firearms at the Federal facility where they work or anywhere on the grounds.

This bill requires that every Federal facility have a safe and secure area in which officers can store their personal firearms during their shift. With passage of this bill, we will provide them with one more tool to ensure they make it home safely to their families every day, giving them the peace of mind that they can perform their duties and not worry about the aftermath.

Look, our Nation's prison guards are often taken for granted. They are the forgotten men and women of America who face evil, and I mean that in the strongest way. They face evil every day to keep our communities safe.

Today, we have the opportunity to honor Lieutenant Albarati for his service and weep with his widow and his three children for their loss. His sacrifice, as the chairman said, must not be in vain. The lessons that we have learned can be used to prevent another tragedy like this from happening ever again.

I thank the Judiciary Committee, its chairman, Mr. Goodlatte, and the House leadership for bringing H.R. 613 to the floor and urge all my colleagues to honor the memory of Lieutenant Albarati by voting ``yes'' and sending this bill to the Senate.