We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

COVID BY THE (DIMINISHING) NUMBERS

The number of BOP staff with COVID fell dramatically last week from 1,254 to 252, but the spike now sweeping the country showed up among BOP prisoners, with the numbers increasing from 208 a week ago Monday to 408 two days ago,  only to drop back to 336 as of today. The BOP says that COVID is still present in 82 facilities, but that is down from 115 a week before.

BOP Director Michael Carvajal told the Senate Judiciary Committee that all BOP staff had been offered the vaccine, and 51% had taken it. He said 66% of inmates offered the vaccine had taken it. The BOP reported 40,808 inmates have been vaccinated as of last Friday (26.8%), up from 23.04% a week ago, The number suggests that the vaccine has been offered to about 61,800 inmates so far. Carvajal said all inmates would be offered the vaccine by the end of May.

The “pause” in administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week because of two reports of a rare blood disorder is expected to be lifted in the next few days. While Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that the pause should be viewed as a “testimony to how seriously we take safety,” some experts are worried that the pause could lead to increased vaccine hesitancy, particularly in vulnerable populations that might be less likely to trust medical institutions in the first place, such as prisons.

“Vaccine confidence tends to be lower amongst people who have been disenfranchised,” Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a Columbia University professor of epidemiology and medicine told ABC News. “Among incarcerated people, that hesitancy may be tied to a historical legacy of doctors experimenting on people in prison.”

At last week’s BOP oversight hearing, Judiciary Committee members expressed concern about the low vaccine acceptance rate among BOP staff. Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) noted that “95% of Mayo clinic doctors have been vaccinated because they don’t want to give it to their patients.” She wondered why BOP staffers were not similarly motivated to protect inmates by getting vaccinated.

ABC News, Prisons postpone vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson shots paused (April 16, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root