. HARRISBURG Early in January, Angelo Romero sat in his cell at SCI-Smithfield and thought there would be no way people incarcerated, like himself, would get the COVID-19 vaccine. “The inmates don’t stand a chance on being vaccinated if it’s going to cost the [Department of Corrections] money,” he wrote in a letter to Spotlight PA. But to Romero’s surprise along with prisoners’ rights advocates, public health experts, and even other inmates the opposite has happened. Three out of the state’s 23 prisons have so far offered vaccines to inmates and staff, and the number of inmates who have gotten the vaccine at two of those facilities is upwards of 70% no small feat for a department that, on average, vaccinates just over a quarter of its population for the flu.
Two Pa prisons have vaccinated more than 70% of inmates An incentive program may be the difference pennlive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pennlive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Annenberg researchers use data science skills for social justice
Incarcerated individuals are five times more likely to be infected by the coronavirus, and they are also more likely to die as a result. The pandemic has ravaged prisons across the country, and with visitation suspended and little or no reporting available about what’s happening inside many loved ones have no concrete information about the health and safety of those incarcerated.
Last summer, the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd sparked a desire in Annenberg School for Communication doctoral candidate Jacob M. Parelman to use his data science skills for social justice.
.
HARRISBURG â The Department of Corrections is reporting flawed data to keep inmates, families, and public officials informed about COVID-19 in its prisons, raising questions about the agencyâs ability to accurately track the extent of the outbreak.
A five-month analysis of prison data by Spotlight PA found large fluctuations in the number of tests administered and unexplained changes to the death count. The findings were confirmed by a California researcher who was also tracking the departmentâs data and had noticed problems.
âItâs one thing to have little mistakes here and there, but if itâs month after month that thereâs many data reporting problems, it definitely causes me pause,â said Hope Johnson, a data fellow at UCLAâs COVID Behind Bars Project, which tracks COVID-19 infections in prisons nationwide.
HARRISBURG — The Department of Corrections is reporting flawed data to keep inmates, families, and public officials informed about COVID-19 in its prisons, raising questions about the agency’s ability to