He was a father of three. He was a devoted husband. He was a former police officer with the Puerto Rico Police Department. And after 11 years of service in the BOP, he was murdered.
Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati was a correctional worker at Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Guaynabo in Puerto Rico, where he was tasked with supervising dozens of prisoners. In his time there, he helped to successfully break up a contraband smuggling group in his workplace.
But on his way home from work one night, he was shot and killed in his car by a group of gunmen on the highway. The men conspired with prisoners inside MDC Guaynabo to kill Osvaldo in retaliation for his work.As a correctional worker, Osvaldo had access to a weapon in his home. But as a correctional worker, he had nowhere outside of his home to secure his weapon. And so when he was killed during his ride home from work, he was unarmed with no way to defend himself.
Serving as a correctional worker is no easy task. In addition to keeping America safe by making sure dangerous inmates stay behind bars, they are often targeted for attacks both inside and outside of the facility.
That’s why AFGE is advocating for the Senate passage of the Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act (S.1084), a bill which would require the warden of every BOP-operated institution to provide a secure storage area where workers can store their personal firearms carried to and from work. The House version of the bill passed unanimously by voice vote on May 5, 2018,
The storage, either a BOP-approved gun locker for a vehicle, or a BOP-approved gun locker on the perimeter of the prison facility, would allow correctional workers to carry their weapons to and from work so that they would be able to protect themselves on their commute.
Download the Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act Flyer