I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6462 
To require the Bureau of Prisons to provide stab-resistant personal body 
armor to all correctional officers of the Bureau, and to require such 
officers to wear such armor while on duty. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 10, 2008 
Mr. CARDOZA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To require the Bureau of Prisons to provide stab-resistant 
personal body armor to all correctional officers of the 
Bureau, and to require such officers to wear such armor 
while on duty. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Jose Rivera Correc-
tional Officer Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
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(1) Federal correctional officers work in a vola-
tile environment where they face the Nation’s most 
serious and violent criminals every day. 
(2) Correctional officers are surrounded by in-
mates with a history of violent behavior and mate-
rials which are converted into weapons. Relatively 
harmless items converted into weapons are used to 
assault correctional officers. 
(3) While several State correctional officers and 
local city and county law enforcement officials are 
issued protective ‘‘stab-proof’’ vests on duty, Bureau 
of Prisons correctional officers are only issued pro-
tective vests for use in responding to emergencies 
and when escorting inmates in the community, not 
during the routine, everyday performance of their re-
sponsibilities. Thus, Bureau of Prisons correctional 
officers are the only segment of the correctional 
workforce not afforded this additional safety pre-
caution. 
(4) On June 20, 2008, two inmates brutally at-
tacked and killed Correctional Officer Jose Rivera at 
the Federal Penitentiary in Atwater, California. The 
two inmates who attacked Officer Rivera had been 
classified by the Bureau of Prisons as ‘‘unable to re-
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habilitate’’, and were among the most dangerous in 
the prison population. 
(5) Bureau of Prisons correctional officers 
should not be forced to put their safety at risk in 
order to comply with an outdated standard on pro-
tective enhancements to uniforms, especially when 
directly interacting with the prison population. 
SEC. 3. STAB-RESISTANT PERSONAL BODY ARMOR RE-
QUIRED. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Bureau of Prisons shall, subject to 
the availability of appropriations to carry out this Act, 
provide each correctional officer of the Bureau of Prisons 
with stab-resistant personal body armor, and shall require 
each such officer to wear such stab-resistant personal body 
armor at any time such officer is on duty. 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2009. 
Æ 
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