P.R. Laws tit. 4, § 1126
A corps composed of correctional officers is hereby created to be a part of the correctional staff that shall be in charge of the responsibility of the custody of the inmates, maintaining order and discipline in the correctional institutions, protecting persons and property, supervising and offering social guidance to the inmates, and also discharge any other functions assigned by the Administrator or officer [to] whom he/she delegates. They may also pursue the escaped convicts and those who are free against whom there is an arrest warrant issued by the Parole Board, and arrest them at any time and in any place, and for this, they may use the same means authorized for the police agents to execute an arrest.
The members of the Special Arrests Unit of the Corrections Administration created by this chapter shall be part of the Correctional Officers Corps. The officers attached to the Unit shall be engaged in the pursuit and capture of delinquents who have escaped from the various correctional and rehabilitation programs and institutions of the country and shall participate in the prevention of escapes, the implementation of contingency plans at internal and interagency levels, and in surveillance and searches, as escorts, and in disturbances and riots. They shall enjoy the same authority, privileges and benefits provided for the correctional officers.
The Administrator shall promulgate the necessary regulations to govern the functions of the persons who are members of the Correctional Officers Corps. Furthermore, he/she shall also establish a continuing education and training program which shall be mandatory for all Correctional Officers. Said training shall be provided at least every two (2) years.
Every member of the Correctional Officers Corps of the Corrections Administration that retires after twenty-five (25) years or more of honorable and meritorious service to the Corp, who has not been subject to disciplinary sanctions in the performance of duty, shall be given the badge as a symbol of said service. If the Corrections Officer dies in the line of duty, the number of the badge shall be retired from the Corps and shall not be assigned to any other Corrections Officer.
The Administrator shall authorize, within five (5) working days after the death in the line of duty of a member of the Correctional Officer Corps, chargeable to operating expenses of the Corrections Administration, a payment equal to two (2) months of his/her gross salary, to the surviving spouse, to his/her dependents if the Correctional Officer was not married, or to the father or mother of the Correctional Officer who was not married and had no dependents. This payment shall be destined to defray the expenses generated by the emergency caused by the unfortunate event, therefore, it shall be made within five (5) working days following the death of the member of the Corps. The granting of this benefit shall be apart from any other benefit or compensation to which the surviving spouse or dependents of the member of the Correctional Officers Corps, who died in the line of duty, would be entitled. This benefit shall be increased annually, according to the rise in the cost of living, as certified by the Planning Board.
The Police Superintendent, in coordination with the Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Correctional Administrator, may authorize the members of the Correctional Officers Corps who retire for years of service and who, in turn, are authorized to have and possess a firearm, to be exempted from the payment of the corresponding fees, to acquire their regulation weapon.
The Police Superintendent, the Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary and the Corrections Administrator shall jointly approve the regulations needed to implement this chapter. The regulatory provisions shall include, among other aspects, the requirements that a Correctional Officer who retires for years of service, and is interested in acquiring his/her regulation weapon at its book value and is authorized to have and possess the firearm, exempted from the payment of the corresponding fees, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 455—460j of Title 25, as amended, known as the “Puerto Rico Weapons Act”, must be in good physical and mental condition upon his/her honorable retirement from public service, as well as when requesting the benefit recognized by this chapter, while he/she deserves said benefit.
History —July 22, 1974, No. 116, Part 1, p. 501, § 8; July 10, 1978, No. 21, p. 420, § 1; Mar. 23, 1984, No. 3, p. 12, § 1; Dec. 19, 1993, No. 120, § 1; Aug. 12, 1996, No. 125, § 1; Aug. 19, 1996, No. 142, § 1; Aug. 16, 1998, No. 248, § 1; July 18, 2001, No. 60, § 7; Aug. 6, 2008, No. 169, § 1.