No need to release inmates if they’re first in line for vaccine
Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan to include inmates in the first wave of coronavirus recipients is catching some heat as the prison population is given priority over medically vulnerable law-abiding residents.
According to Baker’s plan, prison and jail inmates and homeless people are among the first to be given the coronavirus vaccine once it’s approved by the FDA. Also first in line: health care workers directly involved in COVID-19, workers and residents in long-term care facilities, police, fire and other emergency personnel. This phase would last from December to February.
Next up in Phase 2 would be adults over 65 and those with multiple co-morbidities or underlying health conditions, as well as educators, grocery store workers, public works and health workers. The rest of the general public will come under Phase 3, which should go into effect next April at the earliest.
Health experts with Baker’s administration claim prisons and jails are hotbeds of the virus, and moving them to the front of the line prevents the spread of COVID-19.
As one might expect, there is pushback. As one Herald reader commented: “I pay my taxes, bills and have not committed any crimes. Pay for full medical insurance w/ no help from the government. I am over 60, but under 65. Take care of myself and don’t overindulge. End of the line ‘Chump’!”
“So prisoners get to injure the public twice, first by committing crimes against them, then taking away something that may save their life,” wrote another.
But there is a silver lining to this prison-gray cloud: Vaccinating the incarcerated population would put an end to the release of prisoners over coronavirus fears.
For months, progressive lawmakers and activists have lobbied successfully for inmate releases from lockup facilities over fears of coronavirus spread. And for months, the effects of some of those get-out-of-jail grants have been felt on Boston’s streets.
After three men were shot in Roxbury this spring, Police Commissioner William Gross spoke to the effect that releases were having on the city.
“This is a pandemic; we need to pull together — everybody has to be held accountable,” Gross said. “In the past two months, we’ve had career criminals released.”
Last month, a man given compassionate release due to worries over the coronavirus and a gastrointestinal issue allegedly robbed a Back Bay branch of Santander.
The same month, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, District Attorney Rachael Rollins and advocates pressed Baker to let prisoners go.
“As Governor, you have significant authority to limit the deadly spread of COVID-19 and reduce the prison population before it is too late,” Pressley and Rollins wrote in the letter to Baker.
“It is absolutely critical that your administration listens to the guidance of public health experts and does all that it can to immediately decarcerate older individuals, individuals with preexisting medical conditions, juveniles, pregnant individuals, and those with less than a year remaining on their sentence,” they added.
The imminent arrival of the vaccine should limit the spread of the virus among lockup populations far more effectively than decarceration. If saving lives is the impetus for these releases, the cavalry is essentially here.
No doubt progressives will find other hooks on which to hang attempts to empty jails — but Baker’s move to put inmates in Phase 1 of vaccinations effectively eliminates one.