{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2026/4/crime/blackburn-cotton-introduce-bill-to-double-penalty-for-assault-of-federal-correctional-officers", "Blackburn, Cotton Introduce Bill to Double Penalty for Assault of Federal Correctional Officers", "2026-04-15", "2026", "2026-04", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Marsha Blackburn", "B001243", "www.blackburn.senate.gov", "blackburn", "https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/news/cc8c80c1-d564-4bbb-93a4-f1d772346ae0", "scraper", "\u201cFederal prisons have become increasingly unsafe for the brave men and women who serve as federal corrections officers. Incidents of inmates assaulting BOP officers have been on the rise and often result in PTSD for the affected officers as they continue to do their jobs,\u201d said Senator Blackburn. \u201cThe Safer Prisons Act would deter these acts of violence by doubling the criminal penalties for assaulting a BOP correctional officer.\u201d\n\n\u201cAssaulting a federal corrections officer is completely unacceptable,\u201d said Senator Cotton. \u201cOur bill would double the criminal penalties for these criminals that attack our officers.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND\n\nThe Safer Prisons Act is intended to address a startling increase in violence targeting correctional officers in federal prisons.\n\nThese incidents endanger correctional officers and foster an intolerable and violent environment within the walls of the prison facilities in which they occur, placing inmates at an increased risk of harm as well.\n\nClick here for bill text.", 1, "2026-04-16T05:48:36Z", "2026-04-16T05:50:08Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2026/4/crime/blackburn-cotton-introduce-bill-to-double-penalty-for-assault-of-federal-correctional-officers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0901521891355515, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}