Throughout the pandemic, California State Prisons have been on the receiving end of criticism around their handling of COVID-19.
California prisons currently report more than 3,100 active employee COVID-19 cases and 8,800 in the inmate population. San Quentin State Prison has had hundreds of cases, and 28 inmates and one staff member have died.
Marin County Assemblyman, San Rafael Democrat, and harsh critic of San Quentin's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marc Levine told KCBS Radio that "prison leadership has lost my confidence and public confidence in their ability to handle this contagious virus."
The state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation received backlash this summer after it transferred asymptomatic inmates from its prison in Chino, to San Quentin. This week, San Quentin sent 26 prisoners to a state lockup in Corcoran California, in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus. Assemblyman Levine argued that prisoners should be vaccinated for COVID-19.
"Too often we’re focused on whether or not an incarcerated person merits protections from the virus or even getting a vaccine," Levine said.
He noted that giving inmates the vaccine not only protects them from the virus, but the community as well.
With the entire Bay Area region now officially under the strict state-mandated stay-at-home orders, and ICU capacities dropping across the state, Levine believes giving vaccines to inmates is a public health issue.
"Spread in our prison system concurrent with community spread throughout California will put a great burden on our hospital system, and unfortunate competition for limited ICU beds," he said.
Currently, 18 staff members and 19 inmates are infected with coronavirus in San Quentin State Prison, which is low compared to other prisons across the state.
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