By Bob Kalinowski
The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre
NANTICOKE, Pa. — His name will live on.
Acting in the name of slain correctional officer Eric Williams from Nanticoke, the United States Senate on Wednesday passed a bill mandating that workers in the most dangerous federal prisons must be armed with pepper spray for protection.
The usually divided chamber united together and approved the “Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act of 2015” by unanimous consent.
Williams’ father, Don, happened to be watching C-Span on Wednesday afternoon at his home in Nanticoke when senators began discussions on the bill named for his son, who was killed by an inmate nearly three years ago.
“We’re happy there will be something so lasting in our son’s name and so needed that will have the ability to save lives,” Don Williams said shortly after the vote.
Don Williams said he’s left to wonder if his son would still be alive if he had pepper spray on him.
“That’s hard to say. I’d like to believe it could have made a difference,” Don Williams said. “Pepper spray and another officer, and there absolutely would have been another outcome.”
Williams, 34, was working alone in a unit housing about 130 inmates when he was attacked, beaten and stabbed to death at nightly lockdown on Feb. 25, 2013, at U.S. Penitentiary at Canaan in Wayne County.
Prosecutors say an inmate, a gang assassin already jailed for murder, stabbed Williams more than 125 times with a crude, hand-made knife after ambushing the officer. Williams was equipped with just a radio, keys and handcuffs.
The bill passed Wednesday authorizes correctional officers, and all other employees required to respond to inmate emergencies in federal medium-security and higher prisons, to carry pepper spray.
Don Williams, who has vowed to fight for correctional officer safety the rest of his life, called the Senate vote a “great start” to reforms that should focus more on employee safety than the coddling of convicts.
“For them to be totally unarmed, it was ludicrous,” Don Williams said. “I can’t believe all we had to go through for people to see this. It’s common sense.”
At the time of Williams’ murder, correctional officers at seven of the 122 prisons in the federal system were equipped with pepper spray as part of a pilot program.
Three days after the Williams slaying, the federal Bureau of Prisons expanded the pilot program to include all 17 of the nation’s penitentiaries, which are the highest security level prisons in the federal system, like USP Canaan.
In the years since Williams’ murder, the bureau continually expanded the program to eventually include all staff exposed to inmates in all high- and medium-security prisons, or 65 total facilities.
Wednesday’s legislation brings the expansion closer to becoming law. If passed in the House of Representatives, as expected, it will move to the desk of President Barack Obama for approval.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. — who introduced the Williams bill along with Pennsylvania’s other senator, Pat Toomey — argued on the Senate floor that correctional officers are law enforcement just like police and deserve to be armed with something to protect themselves.
“We have an obligation to keep safe the men and women who serve in our correctional facilities. The tragic murder of Eric Williams illustrates the risks they take every day just by going to work,” Casey said in a statement after the vote.
The bill keeps the memory of Williams alive and is “a tribute to the dedicated advocacy of his family,” Casey said.
Casey had been fighting to arm correctional officers with pepper spray as far back as October 2011, but leadership in the Bureau of Prisons had been long hesitant about issuing pepper spray or weapons to staff, arguing those items could be seized by inmates and used against staff.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Jesse Con-ui, 38, the gang assassin accused of killing Williams. He remains jailed at ADX Florence, the supermaximum security prison in Colorado known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”
After Wednesday’s vote, the union that represented Williams and his colleagues applauded the law.
“Our staff, day to day, work with some of the worst offenders our society has ever produced,” said Eric Young, national president of the Council of Prisons Local. “Our colleagues deserve to feel safe in their workplace, and we are thrilled that this passage permanently ensures a means of self-defense to all of our correctional staff working at medium or higher security prisons.”
TIMELINE
June 2008: After inmates fatally stab federal correctional officer Jose Rivera at the United States Penitentiary at Atwater, his colleagues and lawmakers urge the federal Bureau of Prisons to arm staff with pepper spray for protection.
April 2009: U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., proposes a bill to launch pilot program to arm correctional officers with pepper spray, but several attempts to pass the legislation fail.
October 2011: U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., proposes a similar pepper spray bill, urging the Bureau of Prisons director and congressional colleagues to arm correctional officers with pepper spray.
June 2012: After continued pressure and more inmate attacks, the Bureau of Prisons approves a limited pilot program to allow guards at seven of the 122 federal prisons to carry pepper spray.
Feb. 25, 2013: An inmate kills Correctional Officer Eric Williams, 34, of Nanticoke, by stabbing him more than 125 times with a crude, hand-made knife at United States Penitentiary at Canaan. Williams was only equipped with keys, handcuffs and a radio during the ambush.
Feb. 28, 2013: Three days after the Williams slaying, the Bureau of Prisons expands the pilot program to include all 17 of the nation’s penitentiaries, which are the highest security level prisons in the federal system like USP Canaan.
April 2014: The pepper spray pilot program expands to allow other staffers — such as case managers and counselors — to carry pepper spray at the nation’s 20 penitentiaries.
Feb. 23, 2015: Casey and fellow U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa, introduce the “Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act of 2015” which would legally require the bureau to give pepper spray to all staff in high-security and medium-security prisons.
Feb. 27, 2015: Two days after the second anniversary of Williams’ murder, the Bureau of Prisons further expands pepper spray program to include most staff in high- and medium-security federal institutions, a total of 65 facilities.
Dec. 16, 2016: The U.S. Senate passes the “Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act of 2015”
Copyright 2015 The Citizens’ Voice