New York State

Prisoners slowly receiving COVID-19 vaccines

After winning a lawsuit against Cuomo and navigating the J&J pause, incarcerated people are finally getting vaccinated.

Incarcerated people are finally getting vaccinated in New York.

Incarcerated people are finally getting vaccinated in New York. Dan Henson/Shutterstock

Soon after prisoners in New York correctional facilities sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and won, they began receiving hard-won COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision wrote in a statement to City & State that it began offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to all incarcerated individuals on April 6. As of mid-April, 894 incarcerated individuals and 23 staff members had been vaccinated through this effort.

But then those vaccinations stopped, as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was put on pause by the federal government on April 13. The department had been using the Moderna vaccine since February.

Getting shots in the arms of inmates to begin with, however, has been a battle. On March 30, a judge ordered the state to administer COVID-19 vaccines to prisoners after a lawsuit from a coalition of advocates argued that Cuomo and state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker had unfairly denied prisoners access to the vaccine.

Meghna Philip, a staff attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, one of the groups who brought the suit, was involved in every stage of the litigation and argued the case before the judge.

Philip said that her organization had tried contacting the governor and his office and advocate “in any way we could.” But after receiving no response time and time again, they resorted to legal action. When other organizations had the same problem, they banded together and brought the suit.

In affidavits submitted to the court, prisoners described their living conditions and their fears. Charles Holden, a 52-year-old man incarcerated at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island, said his 50-bed dormitory had 48 beds filled. He said in the affidavit that the beds were mere inches apart, that he ate communally where inmates were unable to wear masks, and that he shared toilets, sinks, showers, televisions, telephones and recreational spaces with dozens of other incarcerated men.

Another complainant was Alberto Frias, a 24-year-old man incarcerated at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island. Frias said in his affidavit that shared items like remotes, mops and an electric kettle were not sanitized between uses. He added that incarcerated people in his unit didn’t wear masks in the shared spaces of the housing area. Even if he stayed in his cell to avoid them, he couldn’t stop other inmates or staff from entering his cell when he wasn’t there.

Philip said part of the suit cited the fact that people in every other kind of congregate setting were eligible for the vaccine and that the exclusion of incarcerated adults felt intentional. She found it mind-boggling that those in juvenile detention centers were even eligible, along with prison staff, but adults who were incarcerated (and didn’t have another qualifier for the vaccine) were not allowed to get the vaccine.

The judge, in ruling with the coalition of advocates, agreed. She wrote that the state “irrationally distinguished between incarcerated people and people living in every other type of adult congregate facility, at great risk to incarcerated people’s lives during this pandemic.” In her decision, she said there was “no acceptable excuse for this deliberate exclusion as COVID-19 does not discriminate between congregate settings.”

In response, Philip said, “It’s worth noting that the judge’s decision really underscores the fact that the state was neglecting its duties to incarcerated people for several months. It is a reflection of, throughout this pandemic, the deprioritization of the lives and safety of incarcerated people.”

Philip said that one of the complainants, Holden, actually received his first dose the day after the ruling was handed down. She added that her organization had heard from clients and advocates across the state that vaccine appointments were being made available to prisoners.

According to Jeanette Merrill, director of communications and intergovernmental affairs at Correctional Health Services, the direct health care provider in the city’s jails, CHS was the first in the state to offer the vaccine to people in custody.

“We were thrilled to be able to offer the vaccine to every patient in our care following the March 2021 court ruling,” Merrill said in a statement to City & State. “We had advocated that every person in custody should have access, not based on health or age, but due to the very nature of the congregate carceral setting.”

As of mid-April, Merrill said CHS had vaccinated more than 1,700 inmates. Before the March ruling, she said CHS received approval to vaccinate a smaller percentage of their population based on health or age. Those vaccination efforts started January 7, so by the time of the court ruling, they had already vaccinated about 1,100 people. Regarding staff, over 2,000 employees had been vaccinated.

When it comes to state-level vaccinations prior to the lawsuit, the state corrections department began vaccinating staff and incarcerated individuals 65 years and older on February 5 using the Moderna vaccine. Through that qualification, 77% of incarcerated individuals who qualified had agreed to take the vaccine.

Regarding staff, as of April 13, 7,475 staff members had gotten both doses. But because the vaccine was not mandatory, staff were not legally required to report if they had received the vaccine outside of work – so that number could be higher.

The vaccine was also already being offered to incarcerated individuals with comorbidities. Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of eligible comorbidities, there were about 3,575 incarcerated individuals who met that criteria for the vaccine. As of April 13, 2,552 incarcerated individuals with at least one comorbidity had received the first vaccine, and 1,766 had received their second dose.

But the pandemic isn’t over, and the disease continues to be infectious. Philip issued a reminder to all as the pandemic continues.

“It’s important for the state to continue to keep in mind the importance of protecting incarcerated people, who are extraordinarily vulnerable to infection because of the circumstances that they’re living in,” she said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.