Prison Employees Not Required to Be Vaccinated For Work, Inmates Are

None of this makes any sense.

Photo by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz on Unsplash

Another inmate and I were recently discussing work assignments. I’ve not been in this camp long and from what I understand, it could be awhile before I am assigned a work detail. Obviously, the people who have been here the longest get assigned first. When you first arrive in prison, you’re sent to a processing center where you undergo testing. This entails physicals, bloodwork, and a lot of psychological testing as well. You’re also interviewed by case analysts whose job it is to take the end results of all the testing you go through, plus your criminal history, and assign a classification code to you regarding your level of risk. They also denote if you are especially qualified for any specific jobs based on your outside experience.

For the most part, there aren’t any special jobs on the inside you’re going to qualify for based on your outside work experience. Even jobs in the kitchen are all on the job training. You are required to have two things before being assigned to any job in prison, at least in my state.

A high school diploma or GED and a COVID vaccination.

For the purposes of this article, I will not argue how it makes little sense you needing a GED to sweep the floor. What I will argue is how little sense it makes to require inmates to be vaccinated to hold a job, while NOT requiring prison employees to do the same.

I am not in any way shape or form anti-vaxx. I’ve had COVID and I wouldn’t recommend it. What I can’t get behind is the double standard. The prison system constantly puts out press releases saying they’re working hard to stem the spread of the virus within the system, yet, they’re not requiring their own employees to be vaccinated, nor are they requiring them to wear masks.

People on the outside say they don’t understand why the prison population is consistently getting sick. I can tell you why. Correctional officers (COs) are bringing in the virus. Inmates are getting sick, quarantine is a joke, they’re being reintroduced back into general population, and passing the virus right back to others.

I’m not the only one talking about this. Robert Horne, a DC resident incarcerated at the…