Sen. Cruz Issues Statement Following Senate’s Passage of Bipartisan Bill Cracking Down on Contraband and Organized Crime in Federal Prisons

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement following the Senate passage of the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act to crack down on the smuggling of contraband cellphones into federal prisons by upgrading the charge for smuggling a contraband cellphone into a federal prison from a misdemeanor offense to a felony. The bill is now headed to the House of Representatives.

Upon passage, Sen. Cruz said, “Prison isn’t a taxpayer-funded hotel. Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati was murdered for doing his job and enforcing rules against contraband. I’m proud to work with Sens. Ossoff and Grassley on their bipartisan legislation to place stricter penalties on criminals who violate prison contraband rules, to better protect security guards like Lieutenant Albarati.”

Sen. Cruz joined Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) in introducing the legislation.

Read the full text of the bill here.

BACKGROUND

The legislation is named in honor of Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) correctional officer who was murderedcompleting his shift at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Guaynabo in Puerto Rico in 2013. Five men who later pleaded guilty to the crime admitted they targeted Albarati as a direct result of continuous seizures of contraband, including cellphones. The inmate who placed the hit on Albarati did so using a contraband cellphone.

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