A jail cell in the north wing of the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. Photo: Halifax Examiner
哈利法克斯审查员提供所有Covid-19免费覆盖。请帮助我们继续这个覆盖范围subscribing。
Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health says the province will soon begin vaccinating prisoners as a group of advocates calls on the government to depopulate the facilities.
In a新闻发布on Monday, the East Coast Prison Justice Society (ECPJS) said it’s “alarmed to learn that there has been no vaccination rollout either for provincial prisoners or correctional staff, despite prisons being obvious vectors of community and institutional co-transmission, and the heightened vulnerability & disproportionate numbers of Indigenous, racialized, and disabled prisoners.”
Prisoners are vulnerable to COVID-19 because they’re in a closed setting, with staff coming and going — much like a long-term care facility. Recognizing that risk and a number of outbreaks in prisons across Canada, the federal government began immunizing prisoners in its facilities in January.
At that time, the government’s plan for getting vaccines into jails was vague and随着哈利法克斯审查员的报告那ECPJS was calling on the province to vaccinate prisoners and depopulate the jailsas it did last spring。
“We received no response,” Monday’s news release stated.
“Now, with the sudden uptick in COVID-19 cases and community spread exceeding the first wave, we return to our basic concerns for prisoner safety and public health.”
社会表示，它无法确认“甚至依靠年龄符合年龄的囚犯已经有机会接种疫苗。”
To sum up the group’s call to action:
我们敦促政府采取措施影响大众释放，以减轻机构和进一步社区传播的风险。此外，惩教设施的囚犯和工作人员以及转型房屋的居民和工作人员需要接种疫苗。最后，在惩教设施和过渡室中的频繁的Covid-19测试是为了防止无症状的传播。
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang was asked about the plan for vaccinating prisoners during Monday’s COVID-19 briefing. His response:
Plan’s in place, information is already going out to our correctional staff and getting them into … one of the many community locations with a priority access so … that’s already been communicated to them. They need to step forward and get vaccinated.
在可能的下周，我们将进入并提供惩教设施的疫苗。我们也在寻找方式......我们惩教设施中的许多人都在短时间内。他们经常在周末进出余地。因此，我们正在寻找如何持续的方式，我们将这些人免疫，因为他们在剩余的设施中。
In an emailed statement, Nova Scotia Department of Justice spokesperson Heather Fairbairn said there are 383 people in provincial custody as of Monday.
“我们继续管理录取和发布，因为我们自2020年3月以来，符合条件的囚犯被考虑临时缺席/早期发布。惩教服务有一个全面的Covid-19预防计划，我们继续与公共卫生密切合作，以维持我们设施中的囚犯和工作人员的安全环境，“Fairbairn写道。
“As outlined in Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 immunization plan, inmates and staff of correctional facilities are included in phase two:冠状病毒（Covid-19）：疫苗 - 加拿大新斯科舍省政府。Vaccine rollout is determined by Public Health. As Dr. Strang indicated today, invitations are going to staff this week and public health is working to develop a plan for those in custody at provincial correctional facilities.”
Fairbairn的回应没有回答一些考官的问题，即“省级设施有任何疫苗推出？它是如何工作的？诊所在监狱？哪种疫苗？有多少囚犯被疫苗？有多少员工？“
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Thank you!
真的很高兴审查员......作为一名高级，我担心进入和用法不是一个叮当声，但它很容易操纵......因为我们仍然紧贴着我们的大多数人都害怕在线的东西而被打印给老年人发出消息
Thanks, Allan! And it’s not just seniors — none of us was born knowing how to do this online stuff, and it changes every day. But I’m always happy to help.