Pepper Spray Requested by Prison Guards for Increased Protection from Prison Violence

Guards at the maximum security prison in Atwater, California are requesting to be issued pepper spray (otherwise known as oleoresin capsicum) for self defense and to help quell prison violence as it arises.

Officers complain about inadequate staffing and ineffective defense tools. Stab resistant vests (newly made available to prison staff) are not an effective defense against the weaponry recently confiscated. Instead of customary knives, guards have found homemade ice picks such as the one used to murder a Atwater corrections officer (made from metal taken from the prison dishwasher)

Correctional Officers are lobbying Congress in support of a bill that would establish a 2 year pilot program where correctional officers would carry pepper spray inside of a federal prison.

Prison officials are reticent to arm the guards that work inside of a prison facility because of the risk that inmates could get a hold of the weapon. Bureau of Prisons Director told a House panel, "Anything we give to an employee you must assume an inmate can have."

Correctional officers, though, are concerned that violence will be on the rise with the recycling program closure that would leave 200 inmates with way too much time on their hands. Couple that with the fact that staffing has not been increased, even in the wake of Rivera’s death, and you can see why officers are unsettled. Officers need something to give them the upper hand with inmate violence, though, and pepper spray may be the most effective means to do that.