Oklahoma inmates are experiencing their own version of pandemic fatigue.
The corrections department has limited inmate movement and enforced a mask mandate for staff and prisoners since April. A systemwide lockdown prompted by gang fights at the three male prisons in late November has added an additional layer of restrictions over the past several weeks.
A successful COVID-19 vaccination effort could reduce cases and deaths and allow the return of family visitation and in-person classes. Shipments of the vaccine should start arriving at prisons, jails and other congregate living facilities by the end of the month, state deputy health commissioner Keith Reed told Oklahoma Watch in an email.
Some inmates, aware of the history of medical experimentation on prisoners, remain skeptical about taking the vaccine.
Abigail Jackson, a Lawton woman whose fiancé is incarcerated at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, said some inmates at the facility are concerned about long term side effects and will wait to see how the vaccine affects their peers. She said her fiancé plans to reject the vaccine when it becomes available.
“He doesn’t want to be a test dummy,” Jackson said. “He wants to be healthy but feels like all of this was rushed.