Prison staff given vaccination deadline

Federal judge criticizes Newsom, union for trying to postpone order

With COVID-19 already having taken the lives of nearly 300 California inmates and prison staff, a federal judge has ordered all prison employees to be vaccinated by Jan. 12, and criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom and the prison guards’ union for seeking to postpone his order.

In the face of “undisputed scientific and medical evidence” that vaccines are both effective and essential in confined settings like prisons, Newsom and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association are showing “deliberate indifference” to inmates’ health by seeking a stay of the vaccination order, said U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar of Oakland.

Newsom’s Department of Public Health in August ordered vaccination for staff at three state prison health care facilities, in Stockton, Vacaville and Chowchilla (Madera County), similar to the department’s vaccination order for all health care workers in the state. On the recommendation of Clark Kelso, the court-appointed receiver who oversees health care in California prisons, Tigar extended the mandate on Sept. 27 to all prison staff statewide and to inmates who work outside their prisons, at such locations as fire camps. The order allows exemptions for medical or religious reasons.

At that time, Tigar said, 75% of all inmates and health care staff had been vaccinated against COVID-19, but the figure was only 55% of all prison staff and 42% of guards and other in-custody staff. It was as low as 18% in one unidentified prison. Since then, vaccination levels have risen to 79% among inmates and 66% of staff members, said Dana Simas, spokesperson for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Prison officials say 242 inmates and 49 prison staff members have died of COVID, and there have been have more than 51,000 COVID cases among inmates and more than 21,000 among staff. But they say conditions have improved substantially in recent months, with only about 200 active cases among inmates and only three hospitalized.

In a request to Tigar to put his order on hold while it is being appealed, lawyers for the guards’ union argued that the vaccine mandate requires prison staff to subject themselves to an “unwanted, invasive medical procedure that cannot be reversed” or risk losing their jobs.

The state’s lawyers accused the judge of “an unprecedented intrusion into state operations and responsibilities.” Simas said California has adhered to public health standards and requires prison staff to wear masks and undergo testing twice a week.

But in an order Nov. 18 denying a stay, Tigar said both the union and the governor’s office are “ignoring undisputed medical and scientific evidence.”

He said the state’s own expert witness has declared that the vaccination of all employees except those with valid exemptions is “the single most effective intervention available to prevent cases and outbreaks.”

Attorney Steven Fama of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, which represents inmates, said Monday it was “regrettable” that Newsom had not ordered all prison staff to be vaccinated.

“If the virus were to design its ideal home, it would build a prison,” he said.