Supporting the senator: The Council of Prison Locals endorsed U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (center). SOURCE: TOOMEY FOR SENATE CAMPAIGN
The Council of Prison Locals recently endorsed U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey for re-election during an event in Williamsport.
The Council represents the correctional officers at nine corrections facilities in Pennsylvania.
E.O. Young, national president of the Council, said in an endorsement letter, “No one has fought harder for our members than Sen. Pat Toomey.”
Young cited the brutal 2013 murder of corrections officer Eric Williams, who worked at a federal prison in Wayne County in northeastern Pennsylvania. Inmate Jessie Con-ui allegedly knocked Williams down a staircase, beat him, stabbed him more than 100 times with a prison-made knife and stomped on his head.
Williams was working alone with about 125 inmates, preparing to lock them in cells for a nightly headcount, when Con-ui allegedly attacked him. Con-ui’s trial is set for July, and he faces the death penalty if convicted.
Toomey was the lead sponsor of the Eric Williams Correctional Officers Protection Act, which passed the Senate last December and the House this past February. It was signed into law in March.
The act requires the Bureau of Prisons to issue non-lethal pepper spray to guards in medium- and high-security prisons so they have some means of self-defense.
At the time of the attack, Williams was carrying only a radio, handcuffs and keys.
Toomey worked with Don and Jean Williams, the slain officer’s parents, to introduce the legislation.
“They made a very compelling case,” Toomey said.
Sen. Bob Casey Jr. co-sponsored the measure.
Now, pepper spray is available at correctional facilities such as the Federal Detention Center at 7th and Arch streets.
Toomey said union officials have told him pepper spray is effective.
“They’re convinced it saves lives,” he said. “It ends an attack. These are all very dangerous inmates, or they wouldn’t be there. Corrections officers are now a little more safe.” ••
