Workers in Pa. prisons, COVID-19 hotspots, aren’t getting vaccinated. Here’s why that’s dangerous.
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State Corrections Secretary John Wetzel received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine earlier this month and recorded it to encourage staff and those incarcerated to do the same.
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By Joseph Darius Jaafari of Spotlight PA
HARRISBURG A delayed upgrade to the state Department of Corrections’ dashboard on COVID-19 rates in prisons has revealed that more than 80% of correctional staff and officers who work in prisons are not vaccinated, or have not reported their status.
The percentage is far lower than the general public according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all American adults have received at least one shot, which is similar to the number of incarcerated people in Pennsylvania who have gotten one.
Approximately one-fifth of prison staffers have reported being vaccinated, far less than the roughly half of those incarcerated in Pennsylvania facilities.
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California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
When news of the pandemic first reached the men incarcerated at Avenal State Prison in central California, inmate Ed Welker said the prevailing mood was panic. “We were like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to come in here and it’s going to spread like wildfire and we’re all going to get it,’” he said. “And that’s exactly what happened.”
Calling the prison system’s response to the pandemic “nonchalant,” “incompetent” and at times “negligent,” Welker and his fellow inmates described a crowded and dangerous living situation. Inmates interviewed by Valley Public Radio said physical distancing was nearly impossible, and constant moves in and out of quarantine were confusing and disruptive. The postponement of visits and rehabilitative programs left the men with little opportunity to vent their frustrations.
In December, Covid-19 infections in prisons in the United States hit a record 25,000 in one week. Among correctional staff that month, there were an additional 5,000 new infections a week, leading to spread in surrounding communities. According to a New York Times database, collectively, more than 580,000 people at correctional institutions have been infected. The prisoner death toll has now surpassed 2,000.
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Eleven months into the pandemic, the U.S. prison system has not gotten control of its rising caseload, which is likely still underestimated, according to The Marshall Project, a nonprofit journalism outlet focused on criminal justice issues. Doctors, attorneys, prison reform advocates, and public health researchers are increasingly concerned about one of the tactics that prisons are using to isolate symptomatic individuals: solitary confinement, the prolonged use of which is an intern