Vaccinate Florida’s incarcerated and prison staff for COVID-19. It’s about public safety, not politics | Opinion
As we approach the first anniversary of COVID-19’s emergence in the United States, Florida remains one of the hardest-hit states in the nation. Meanwhile, our vaccination efforts are off to a slow start — more than 1 million doses are still unused — raising doubts about quick relief for vulnerable populations, including people who are currently incarcerated.
Studies show that we’ve experienced more than 17,560 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 196 deaths in Florida’s prisons. The numbers are staggering, but not surprising. A recent report from the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice found that incarcerated individuals are twice as likely to die of COVID-19 than the general population and four times as likely to become infected.
Despite this grim reality, there’s little enthusiasm among lawmakers to boost vaccination efforts in prisons, in part because of the belief that people behind bars don’t deserve special treatment. What these leaders are missing is the fact that conditions in prisons make them fertile ground for super-spreader events, with impacts far beyond their walls. Once the coronavirus gets a toehold, it can leap like wildfire into surrounding communities as visitors, staff and people released from custody return home.
As a formerly incarcerated individual, I experienced firsthand the conditions in Florida’s correctional facilities before COVID-19 hit. As a person with underlying health conditions that make me especially vulnerable to COVID-19 I cannot imagine being inside now.
Prisons and jails provide virtually no room for social distancing. Unable to elude the virus, incarcerated people are one of society’s most at-risk populations. Even so, Florida officials have rejected arguments by advocates pushing for the accelerated release of nonviolent and medically fragile individuals.
Staff in our prisons and jails have also suffered, with more than 4,603 corrections employees testing positive for the virus. Employees not only spread COVID-19 inadvertently at work, but also can carry the virus back to their families and communities.
Recently, we’ve seen signs of progress, with Florida’s corrections chief requesting the inoculation of incarcerated people over 65. But it’s not enough. State officials must consider expanding his petition to cover all jail and prison employees and those serving time.
Concerned that the coronavirus risk to those behind bars was undervalued by our leaders, I joined the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, a diverse panel that includes justice-system leaders, advocates, a leading researcher and a top public-health specialist. Through summer and fall, we studied the impacts of COVID-19 on our system and developed recommendations to guide policymakers.
Now the Commission has published its final policy agenda. In addition to our recommendation that prisons and jails should have early access to the vaccine, the Commission urges states to create “safety valve” release mechanisms for medically vulnerable people, divert people with mental-health and substance-use disorders away from custody and into public-health alternatives, and use citations in lieu of arrest for incidents that don’t threaten public safety.
As COVID-19 continues to stalk our society, I hope Florida’s leaders recognize the unique vulnerability of those living and working in our justice system and do more to protect them. Lives depend on it.
Desmond Meade is executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and a commissioner on the Council on Criminal Justice’s National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 3:41 PM.