Here's the thing about prison inmates in South Africa, right.

1. Our criminal justice system is horribly overburdened and many matters can take months or even years to reach finality. If an accused can't make bail (which is NOT the same as being denied bail), he sits in gaol.

2. There are accused who may sit in gaol that whole time and be acquitted. Not all prisoners are guilty but ALL awaiting trial prisoners are innocent until proven so.

Some prisoners spend more time in gaol than the time they are sentenced to be there.

3. Whether you will ultimately be found guilty / not guilty is often a factor of race and/or class. The wealthier you arez the better the lawyer you can afford. The greater your chance of an acquittal or a short or non-custodial sentence.

4. A prison sentence is, therefore, not an indication of the seriousness of your crime.

5. Prisoners have lost their right to freedom of the person, but they still have other constitutional rights including the right to life, to dignity and to equality.

6. Prisons are a haven for pandemics. This not only endangera inmates, it endangers correctional services staff, families, lawyers, magistrates and judges, court staff. Vaccinations help save those lives.

7. Casually saying that prisoners should not receive the vaccines or should go to the back of the queue shows a wilful ignorance of how those people came to be in prison, how many people will be adversely affected by this decision and a lack of humanity which is deeply disturbing

We should be focusing on giving this vaccine to as many people as possible starting with those who NEED it most, not on who we think DESERVES it least.

Because if we adopt the second approach, I'm going to start lobbying against covid denialists and certain cartoonists.