Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff has been working on Federal prison issues basically since taking office. Likely spurred by a number of woes at the Atlanta prison, Ossoff has worked with U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, on protecting prison staff from sexual assault and harassment, as well as sponsored a bill to increase oversight of the federal prison system. The latest in Ossoff’s prison reform efforts is a bill to crack down on contraband and organized crime in Federal prisons. The bill titled the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act, and co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, is aimed most specifically at the smuggling of cellphones into prisons by upgrading the charge of smuggling a phone into a federal prison from a misdemeanor to a felony.
“My bipartisan investigations of corruption, abuse, and misconduct in the Federal prison system have revealed systemic challenges that allow for the dangerous flow of contraband, which is a threat to safety and security,” Ossoff said. “Senator Grassley and I are introducing this bipartisan bill to strengthen penalties for smuggling contraband into Federal prisons.”
The bill’s namesake, Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati, was a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) correctional officer murdered after completing a shift at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Puerto Rico in 2013. Five men who pleaded guilty to the crime pointed to Albarati’s seizure of cellphones as the cause for the placement of a hit on the officer. A hit that was taken out on a contraband cellphone.
“Contraband cellphones are a deadly and pervasive problem in many of our nation’s federal prisons. Stiffening penalties for cellphone smuggling will go a long way to improve our prison system and keep inmates, prison staff, and the general public safe,” Grassley said.
Ossoff’s previous work investigating the Atlanta prison found 800 contraband phones in 2021, used for operating drug dealing operations and gang activity both inside and outside the prison. Nationwide, contraband contributed to more than 30 percent of deaths in Federal prisons, according to a recent Inspector General report. Ossoff also sponsored the bipartisan Prison Camera Reform Act, which was signed into law in 2022 and required the Federal Bureau of Prisons to upgrade and replace outdated and broken security cameras.
“A cell phone in a prison is a deadly weapon. Lieutenant Albarati was a true hero, selflessly dedicated to making MDC Guaynabo and his community safer by preventing criminal activity inside the facility. I commend Senators Grassley and Ossoff for honoring his memory by sponsoring this public safety reform and for recognizing the severity of this problem,” said Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
