With cases of COVID-19 continuing to spread through prisons, guards and inmates should be among the first to receive vaccinations against the virus that causes the illness, a national commission recommended Monday.
The vaccine recommendation by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, whose members include former U.S. Attys. Gen. Loretta Lynch and Albert Gonzales, was the main takeaway in a set of findings released by the panel. The group also called for an increase in the number of prisoners released during the pandemic and for some incoming inmates to be diverted from prisons in order to slow the spread of the disease.
As officials in California and other states scramble to devise plans for dispersing the vaccine and which people should be the first to receive it, the commission recommended that inmates and correctional staff be put in a category behind only healthcare workers and highly vulnerable populations such as the elderly living in nursing homes.
California officials on Monday said a decision had not yet been made on where inmates will fall on the state’s vaccination plan.
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