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A short thread on the California prison system's Covid catastrophe + vaccine access:
Advocates + experts are arguing that CDCR must urgently make vaccines available to incarcerated people, mandate vaccines for guards, AND do mass releases of elderly/vulnerable. Here's why
Advocates + experts are arguing that CDCR must urgently make vaccines available to incarcerated people, mandate vaccines for guards, AND do mass releases of elderly/vulnerable. Here's why
CDCR has a long history of severe medical neglect + abuse, including experimenting on incarcerated people. Some will likely be reluctant or scared to take a vaccine. This mistrust is compounded by the fact that CDCR has spread Covid across the system, infecting 31,000+ people.
Incarcerated people in CA have witnessed CDCR’s botched Covid response, which has allowed guards to bring Covid to every single prison, leading to mass and worsening outbreaks and 104 deaths. So why would people inside trust a vaccine? says @jamesking0314:
“Their relationship to the vaccine has to be situated within the context of CDCR’s history of not only failing to meet the medical needs of incarcerated people, but actually causing harm ... They are still making medical decisions that are not based upon people’s medical needs.”
The history of medical harm in CDCR is recent, including mass illnesses + death from valley fever, and the scandal of forced sterilizations, notes @aviramh. Now Covid:
“At every turn, the message has been, ‘We don’t care about your lives, we are here to punish you.’”
“At every turn, the message has been, ‘We don’t care about your lives, we are here to punish you.’”
That legacy + this year's mishandling of Covid will pose a huge obstacle to getting ppl inside CDCR to trust the vaccine, says @aviramh. She argues vaccines must be combined w/ mass releases: "The trust breakdown is just so profound that some gesture of goodwill has to come in."
Even if vaccines are available behind bars, CDCR will remain overcrowded + Covid will continue to spread, says @jamesking0314: "It still wouldn't mitigate the underlying health crisis in our state prisons." He and others are urging mass release of elderly and vulnerable to start.
There's also documented evidence that guards have repeatedly refused to wear masks inside, likely contributing to Covid spread. Some incarcerated ppl have also been punished for trying to disinfect their cells. In this context, vaccines should be required for guards, experts say.
So far, CA has not said whether incarcerated people will get vaccines in the early phase. CDCR told me "plans will align with state + health care guidelines for distribution prioritization, and will aim to target frontline workers as well as medically high-risk patients" ...
Meanwhile the crisis continues to escalate, with Covid currently infecting every CA prison. 8,000+ ppl infected in last two weeks. Incarcerated ppl with Covid are stuck in mass quarantines without basic medical help, in regions where hospitals are overflowing with Covid patients.
You can read more about the thorny questions of vaccine access for incarcerated people and other vulnerable groups in CA, in my latest piece on vaccine distribution, equity and racial justice: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/16/california-coronavirus-vaccine-equity-racial-justice
