Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), a sponsor of the bill, said it “aims to prevent a coming mistake by the Evers’ administration to prioritize Wisconsin’s prison inmates over law abiding essential workers and others in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.”
The proposal from a state advisory committee to prioritize inmates would mean a “healthy 30-year-old three-time murderer would be entitled to receive a vaccine before other at-risk individuals, Wanggaard said. “A 25-year-old who raped a 60-year old-asthmatic cancer survivor would be entitled to receive the vaccine before his victim. This is not only unwise, it is unconscionable.”
Prisons are recognized as breeding grounds for pandemics due to the poor health of many inmates and the crowded conditions. Incarcerated people face increased risk of contracting the disease, as do corrections workers and those they come in contact with both inside and outside the prison walls.