{"id":135489,"date":"2021-04-24T13:08:16","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T13:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=40233dad0eed3869de3948cc7e5d8cc1"},"modified":"2021-04-24T13:08:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T13:08:16","slug":"prioritizing-incarcerated-people-for-vaccine-quickly-reduced-covid-in-il-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/24\/prioritizing-incarcerated-people-for-vaccine-quickly-reduced-covid-in-il-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"Prioritizing Incarcerated People for Vaccine Quickly Reduced COVID in IL Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Kelly<\/a>

\u201cOne thing about prison, you don\u2019t want to get sick in here,\u201d says James Trent, who is incarcerated in Western Illinois Correctional Center. When the chance came to get the vaccine for COVID-19, most people inside got the shot \u201cbecause this is very serious,\u201d he told Truthout <\/em>over the phone.<\/p>\n

Illinois is ahead of most states in vaccinating people who are incarcerated, thus far vaccinating 69 percent of the nearly 28,000 people in its prisons. The decision to prioritize providing the vaccine to people behind bars has been hotly contested in states across the U.S. Some argue that prisons, like assisted living centers, should be a priority for the vaccine because people inside are living in such close proximity, and many are aging and in poor health.<\/p>\n

Such a policy has met much resistance from politicians who continue to push a tough-on-crime narrative and demonize people convicted of crimes. Nationwide, one-quarter<\/a> of people incarcerated in state and federal prisons have received at least one vaccine shot.<\/p>\n

Illinois saw a frightening spike in cases at the end of 2020, as I reported<\/a> for Truthout<\/em>, with some prison facilities seeing one-third to one-half of people infected. Just a few months later, the state has greatly contained the virus through mass testing and vaccination.<\/p>\n

Illinois has made a \u201cremarkable turnaround,\u201d says Alan Mills, attorney at the Uptown People\u2019s Law Center<\/a>,<\/u> which currently is in a consent decree<\/a> with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) following a lawsuit to improve medical conditions. In the last year, Mills points out, there have been 10,000 cases of COVID among those incarcerated, and more than 80 deaths. Now, as the IDOC reports<\/a>, most prisons\u2019 COVID case totals are in the single digits, with many at zero.<\/p>\n

Some States Are Deprioritizing Vaccines in Prison<\/h2>\n

Florida was one of the last states to begin providing the vaccine in prison. Back in February 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized<\/a> other states where they were \u201cvaccinating drug addicts instead of seniors.\u201d Early in April, vaccines finally went out to Florida prisons.<\/p>\n

After Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced that those in prison would get the vaccine, lawmakers passed a resolution<\/a> to give the vaccine to \u201claw-abiding\u201d Kansans before \u201chealthy incarcerated individuals.\u201d Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, who wrote the resolution, said<\/a> that the decision would mean that people who had been convicted of violent crimes and sex offenses \u201cwould be offered life-saving vaccines before their victims.\u201d<\/p>\n