Newsom Challenges Vaccine Mandate for Prison Staff
California Governer Newsom and California Correction Officer's Union fight against judicial COVID-19 mandates for the state's thousands of prison guards.
On Oct. 12, 2021, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom appealed against federal judge Marciano Plata’s orders to mandate vaccines for the state’s prison guards. That opposition comes as Newsom spearheaded efforts to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for other fields. In particular, he made California the first state to require immunizations for all K-12 students once the treatment receives full FDA approval for use on children.
Los Angeles City employees and other demonstrators gathered in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles last Monday to protest the City's proof of full COVID-19 vaccination mandate. (Gavin Quinton | The Corsair)
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Division of Correctional Policy Research and Internal Oversight, 77 percent of the state’s approximately one hundred thousand inmates and 63 percent of approximately sixty-six thousand prison staff received full vaccination as of Oct. 27. As of Monday, Oct. 25, only 51 percent of the state’s 28,000 correctional officers, specifically, are fully vaccinated. According to the California Department of Public Health, the percentage of the state population fully vaccinated, 72.7 percent, is higher than California’s prison staff immunization rate but lower than the vaccination rate of the state’s inmates. As of Oct. 27, 2021, the state has not imposed any COVID-19 vaccine requirements upon either of the two groups.
Jose Ramirez, a formerly incarcerated student at Santa Monica College (SMC) and a member of the school’s Reentering Incarcerated and System Impacted Navigating Greatness (RISING) program, shared his own philosophy about immunizations. He believes in people's personal choice for their bodies, but does not understand the societal stigma towards vaccines. He said that he received COVID-19 vaccinations himself, because it was required for his current living situation in subsidized housing. Nonetheless, he understands the hesitancy to receive vaccinations amongst those incarcerated.
Ramirez described the attitude in prison as “every man for themselves.” He believed the government should not force vaccines onto incarcerated persons. However, he stated how he thinks that eventually inmates would not have a choice in California. “California, sooner or later, is going to make it mandated for everybody to get [a vaccine],” he said.
When he heard that the governor opposed vaccine mandates for prison guards, Ramirez expressed shock at what he referred to as Newsom’s “special treatment” toward prison staff. Ramirez was aware of the governor's COVID-19 vaccine mandate in other occupational fields, and Newsom’s fight against requiring those same immunizations for prison guards dismayed Ramirez. “Newsom tells the cops and the firefighters out here to get it, but won't tell them to get it,” he said. “So that's already like a double standard or like showing favoritism.”
Newsom’s opposition to vaccinating prison staff didn’t surprise Ramirez, because he is familiar with the powerful prison staff union named California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA). “It is all very politically influenc[ial],” he said regarding the CCPOA.
In the recent past, the CCPOA has donated to Newsom. According to public state records, on July 27, 2021, the non-profit union gave $1.7 million dollars to Gov. Newsom's 2021 campaign in which he fought opponents' gubernatorial recall efforts.
CCPOA and Newsom’s office did not respond to The Corsair’s request for comment.
