Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act

The bill would amend the federal criminal code provision on providing prohibited objects in prisons (18 U.S.C. § 1791(b)) to add a new penalty: up to two years' imprisonment for an inmate who violates the law by making, possessing, or obtaining a cell phone or similar object, and would renumber the existing penalty paragraphs to fit the new one in. It would also require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, within one year of enactment, to review its policies on inmates who make, possess, obtain, or attempt to obtain prohibited objects, and to update those policies as needed. The bill does not create a new criminal statute; it works entirely by amending the existing penalty structure in Section 1791 and by directing an internal agency policy review, without changing the definition of what counts as a prohibited object.

Incarcerated individuals in federal prisons who possess or obtain cell phones, people who smuggle phones to inmates, the Bureau of Prisons and its staff who enforce contraband rules, and federal prosecutors who charge violations under 18 U.S.C. § 1791.

Inmates found with smuggled cell phones would face a specific, added prison term rather than relying on the general penalty structure, potentially increasing sentences for phone-related contraband offenses. The mandated policy review could also lead to updated Bureau of Prisons procedures aimed at reducing smuggled phones, which have been linked to prison violence and outside coordination of crimes.

The new penalty would apply automatically once enacted, since it amends the existing federal criminal statute used by prosecutors. Separately, the Bureau of Prisons Director would have one year to review internal policies covering inmates who make, possess, or obtain prohibited objects like phones, and would then update those policies as needed. The bill does not specify reporting to Congress or an enforcement mechanism beyond the agency's own compliance with the review deadline.