A federal judge in Oakland has warned state prison officials that if they don't require staff to be vaccinated for COVID-19, they need to give a good reason why.
At a legal hearing on prison medical issues Thursday held over Zoom, U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar praised the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for starting to vaccinate staff and inmates, but asked why the state hasn’t mandated vaccinations for its prison guards, medical staff and administrators.
Paul B. Mello, a lawyer for CDCR, responded that the vaccines are currently not mandatory for any state employees, but that prison officials are considering a change in policy.
“This is a deeply medical issue,” Tigar responded. “So I would expect in the next case management conference that if the state is not going to require vaccination, it sets forth its reasons and not simply inform the court that they're not doing it.”
He added that prison staff are in a unique situation compared to other state employees, as they work with vulnerable people in a densely populated environment.
Tigar said he wants a response from the department by Feb. 16.
Attorneys with the Prison Law Office, an advocacy group representing incarcerated people in a decades-old lawsuit over prison medical care, told the judge they want the state to require mandatory vaccines for staff, who are the main vector for COVID-19 in prisons.
Tigar said he was pleased that, even in its early stages, the vaccine campaign was showing results.
“Not only has the vaccination now begun in earnest,” Tigar said, “but active COVID infections among CDCR incarcerated persons have now dropped below 2,000 for the first time in two-and-a-half months, and they are now below both their July 2020 peak and their September 2020 peak.”
Lawyers for the Prison Law Office said they were also content with progress on vaccinations.
CDCR reports that 22,123 staff members and 8,237 prisoners have so far received a dose of the vaccine. The department in a court filing said 2,289 employees had received both doses.
As of Jan. 27, CDCR was overseeing 94,443 people in custody. The system employs roughly 53,000 people.
But Tigar stressed that the prison system is not out of the woods yet.
"On Jan. 25, in one day, we lost three incarcerated persons,” he said. “On Jan. 19, we lost two staff members to COVID in one day.”
Officials say they have completed vaccinations of inmates who have not had COVID-19 but were in medical beds at the California Medical Facility in Solano County, at the California Health Care Facility in San Joaquin County, and the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County.
The state laid out further vaccination plans in a court filing, saying vaccinations of people 65 and older who have not had the disease should be concluded this week. Incarcerated people deemed at higher risk for the disease are expected to get the vaccine next week, the state said. CDCR plans to eventually vaccinate the entire prison population.