The West Virginia Republican's bill would make permanent a Federal Bureau of Prisons pilot program that allows correctional workers who could respond to conflicts to carry pepper spray, also known as oleoresin capsicum.

The proposal stems from the death of Eric Williams, who was serving as a federal corrections officer when he was ambushed and killed by an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary at Canaan, in Wayne County, Pa., on Feb. 25, 2013.

A federal grand jury handed up an indictment of first-degree murder against Jessie Con-ui, an inmate serving 25 years to life for the murder of a gang rival in Arizona in 2002, reports the Wilkes Barre Times Leader.

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