Public defender groups threaten to sue NY to vaccinate inmates

Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. AP Photo/Mark Lenniha

By David Brand

Public defender groups from across New York City and Long Island have threatened to sue Gov. Andrew Cuomo in order to force the state to vaccinate inmates in jails and prisons. 

Less than 10 percent of the population on Rikers Island has been authorized to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and fewer than five percent have actually gotten their shots, the Eagle reported Thursday, the day the organizations sent Cuomo a letter threatening the lawsuit.

The vast majority of New York jail and prison inmates remain ineligible for the vaccine, leaving them vulnerable to the coronavirus as the illness surges behind bars, Legal Aid and nine other groups wrote in their letter. Jail and prison employees are able to get their shots.

The groups urged Cuomo to change a “cruel policy” that allows correctional staff and people in other congregate settings, like homeless shelters, to get vaccinated, but excludes people locked behind bars.

“We demand that you change this policy effective immediately and authorize vaccinations for people held in jail and prison custody,” they wrote. “If you do not change your policy, we will have no choice but to seek legal remedies for our clients.”

At least 4,883 inmates have contracted COVID-19 in New York prisons, with more than 700 currently sick with the illness, according to state reports. At least 30 inmates and seven staff members have died of the coronavirus, the data shows.

A judge last week ordered the state to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to a 65-year-old inmate with a respiratory illness. 

The public defenders said they were confident courts “will see the injustice and harm of New York’s policy and enter similar orders” that continue compelling the state to vaccinate detainees.

Thomas Mailey, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Correction and Community Service, said the agency is working with the state Health Department to develop a plan to vaccinate incarcerated New Yorkers.