Excuse the awful pun, but it looks like the hysteria encompassing swine flu has added a new rather piggish plot line.
According to a recent report by NBC 26 (WGBA) in Green Bay, prisoners at Taycheedah Correctional Institution near Fond du Lac have started receiving the H1N1 vaccine before it’s being made available to the general public. Seemingly an outrageous measure when taken at face value, as with most politicized issues, there is more to this than meets the eye. It is not simply a case of the Department of Health Services protecting prisoners over protecting average citizens. Far from it, in fact. But more on that later.
In an Oct. 29 press release, Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, stated, “I am deeply concerned … over reports that prisoners are getting the H1N1 vaccination over law abiding citizens of Wisconsin. I strongly encourage the Doyle administration to take a close look at this situation and take steps to ensure that the law abiding citizens of our state that want the vaccine are our first priority.”
Davis, while effectively touting the “tough on crime” card, completely misses the mark and instead misleads Wisconsin citizens on the rationale behind the decision made by the DHS. Prisoners at Taycheedah have first dibs on the vaccine because they need it more than the average citizen. When the quantity of something valuable is in short supply, the people who need it the most should be the ones receiving it first.
The Centers for Disease Control, on their webpage portion titled “Interim Guidance for Correctional and Detention Facilities for H1N1,” discusses the dire susceptibility of prisoners to H1N1 as compared to the average citizen: “Correctional institutions pose special risks and considerations due to the nature of their unique environment. Inmates are in mandatory custody and options are limited for isolation and removal of ill persons from the environment.”
These special circumstances cited by the CDC call for taking special measures regarding H1N1 and inmates receiving the vaccine before your Average Joe does. The Eighth Amendment reads, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Holding prisoners in a confined space when they have no way of isolating themselves from a lethal strand of influenza, or removing themselves from the people surrounding them who may have it, is, without a doubt, a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Nightmarish images of torture doled out to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib detention centers quickly creep to mind. The legitimacy of our democracy hinges on treating our prisoners as humanely as possible.
Juxtapose the two groups: We can give prisoners the H1N1 vaccine, rather than holding them in a confined space in which they have no way of isolating themselves from the lethal strand of influenza, making them vastly more susceptible to obtaining and potentially dying of swine flu. Or we can dole the vaccine out to the general citizenry of Wisconsin, which has a .001 chance of receiving the disease to begin with, and unconstitutionally and wantonly neglect our prison population, leaving inmates in solitary confinement to rot away and die.
American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Executive Director Christopher Ahmuty, in a press release reflecting the dilemma at hand, opines correctly by stating, “To suggest that [prisoners] should not receive vaccine because they are less important than the ‘law abiding citizens of our state,’ will only further the spread of H1N1. … Prisoners are serving their debt to society, but being subjected to disease and death is not part of a just sentence in any civilized society.”
Complicated issues of this nature deserve critical thinking. Sadly, it looks like Davis failed to do his homework on the issue and by doing so, is making his best effort to delegitimize the sanctity of democracy in Wisconsin. Let’s hope his concerns are taken no more seriously than an oinking pig.
Steve Horn ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and legal studies.
