By Matt Hughes
Times Leader
WYAPT, Pa. — On the heels of the homicide of federal corrections officer and Nanticoke resident Eric Williams, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced Thursday it will issue pepper spray to officers at high-security prisons, including the Wayne County facility where Williams was killed.
The Justice Department instituted a pilot program to arm corrections officers with pepper spray, or oleoresin capsicum aerosol, in June 2012 at seven federal prisons, including the high-security prison in Lewisburg. On Thursday, it expanded the program to all high-security prisons, including the U.S. Penitentiary at Canaan near Waymart, according to Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke.
Williams, 34, was working at the Canaan prison Monday night when he reportedly was beaten and stabbed by an inmate. Federal corrections officers are equipped with an alarm system on their bodies that they can trigger if they are in danger, but according to his father, Donald Williams, initial reports indicate Eric Williams did not trigger the alarm.
It remains unclear why. The FBI is investigating his homicide.
Full story: Additional guards get pepper spray