May be an unpopular position but prison and jail inmates and staff should be among the first to get the #covid19 vaccine. A (short) thread

Prisoners are put there by society — by the state. They live in cramped conditions with poor access to PPE and hygiene materials. They are unable to socially distance. They remain indoors. If we, as a society, imprison people then we, as a society, need to keep them safe /2

Prisoners come into contact with prison staff and guards. These people, in turn, go in and out of the prison contacting others. They provide a vector both into and out of the incarceration facility for covid /3

Those prisoners also come to court where they contact judges, jurors, bailiffs, clerks, prosecutors, the public, and their lawyers. /4

So, vaccinating the prison and jail population is critical towards maintaining public health. If the fact that inmates are human and don’t deserve to die from a pandemic while serving their sentence wasn’t already enough for you. 5/5