(a) Offense.—A person who, while confined in a Federal correctional institution under a sentence for a term of life imprisonment, commits the murder of another shall be punished by death or by life imprisonment.

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(b) Definitions.—In this section—

“Federal correctional institution” means any Federal prison, Federal correctional facility, Federal community program center, or Federal halfway house.

“murder” means a first degree or second degree murder (as defined in section 1111).

“term of life imprisonment” means a sentence for the term of natural life, a sentence commuted to natural life, an indeterminate term of a minimum of at least fifteen years and a maximum of life, or an unexecuted sentence of death.