July 2, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In an effort to entice its inmates to get the coronavirus vaccine, New York prison officials are even offering them access to barbecue parties and conjugal visits.
“A mere 45 percent of New York’s incarcerated felons have been inoculated, compared to more than 70 percent of the law-abiding population,” the New York Post reported, based on a memo from a prison official.
Anthony Annucci, the acting corrections commissioner, said that the top six highest vaccinated facilities will be invited to a barbecue party.
“In addition to keeping yourself, your family, and your friends safe, one other benefit for getting the vaccine is that when the Department restarts the Family Reunification Program in September, it will be a pre-requisite for any participating incarcerated individual to be fully vaccinated,” Annuci wrote. This is in reference to conjugal visits that can last two to three days.
Fully vaccinated individuals can also win food from the commissary.
In March, a state judge ordered New York to vaccinate all its prisoners.
“Further, even as the state has ruled that prisoners must be vaccinated,” The Grio reported, “advocacy groups are concerned about their willingness to be inoculated, given the governmental history of medical experimentation on the incarcerated and people of color.”
New York is not the only state trying to get people to take the experimental vaccine that has not been officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but merely received emergency use authorization.
An Ohio judge is trying to mandate vaccination as a condition of probation. The judge, Richard Frye, has tried to argue that not being vaccinated will harm the ability of someone to get hired.
“I think it’s a reasonable condition when we’re telling people to get employed and be out in the community,” Frye said.
“I would argue that that’s illegal,” Mary Holland, the general counsel of the Children’s Health Defense Fund, previously told LifeSiteNews.
“Federal law requires that people have the right to refuse an experimental medical product and that includes people on probation, people in incarcerated settings, people in mental health settings, it means everybody,” Holland said.
“The clinical trials don’t end for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines until 2022 and 2023,” Holland said. “They are experimental. So they cannot be mandated.”
The states of New York and Ohio have offered vaccination incentives not only to prisoners, but to the entire population.
New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) offered a free “vax and scratch” lottery ticket with a $5 million jackpot. Tickets usually cost $20.
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine offered residents in his state the chance to win $1 million dollars for presenting themselves for a COVID jab.
West Virginia residents under 35 were promised a $100 savings bond for getting vaccinated.