Tennessee Moves Corrections Officers Up on Vaccine Priority List, Leaving Prisoners Behind

Tennessee’s updated vaccine distribution plan adds corrections officers and jailers to its first priority phase, while tens of thousands of people incarcerated in the state’s prisons and jails, remain in the last phase of distribution before the vaccine becomes widely available to the general public.

The state’s jails and prisons have been host to rolling outbreaks since the pandemic began. In May, two of the worst COVID-19 hot spots in the country were in Tennessee prisons. To date, 39 incarcerated people in the state have died after testing positive for the illness, along with four Tennessee Department of Correction staffers. Early on in the pandemic, jail populations were reduced across the state, but they have steadily risen since April.

Calls for the mass release of vulnerable people from the state’s prisons have been rejected, if not ignored. Gov. Bill Lee has not used his authority to commute sentences in order to reduce the prison population during the pandemic.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, Tennessee Department of Health commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey was asked about the decision to move jail and prison staff up to a higher priority while leaving incarcerated people behind.

Read more: https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21145626/tennessee-moves-corrections-officers-up-on-vaccine-priority-list-leaving-prisoners-behind