Nine state lawmakers from the Black Democratic Legislative Caucus have asked Gov. Jared Polis to give increased vaccine priority to people in the state s prison and jails.
The legislators wrote they were disheartened and alarmed by the state s decision to remove incarcerated people from the middle tier of vaccine priority, a move made after Polis twice said inmates shouldn t be given priority over those not in prison. The caucus announced the letter Tuesday afternoon, an hour after the American Civil Liberties Union asked a judge to hear evidence about Polis s about-face on the vaccine plan, calling the decision proof of the governor s indifference to the plight of prisoners.
Colorado begins vaccinating prison workers as virus spreads
By PATTY NIEBERG and COLLEEN SLEVINDecember 24, 2020 GMT
DENVER (AP) Colorado’s prison system has begun vaccinating its workers as the coronavirus continues to spread in its facilities.
Frontline healthcare workers are the focus of the vaccination effort that began Tuesday in state prisons, but other workers have also received shots to avoid wasting any doses whenever there is some leftover, corrections department spokesperson Annie Skinner said Wednesday. The other prison workers to be vaccinated so far include those who guard prisoners who are hospitalized and those who transport inmates, she said.
Skinner did not immediately have a tally of how many workers had received the shots so far.