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About 40% of people in the custody of California’s corrections system have received the COVID-19 vaccine, a figure praised by prison advocates who say that only a fraction of the state’s vaccine supply is needed to protect a population that’s among the most vulnerable to the virus.
The vaccinations began Dec. 22 at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, according to California Correctional Health Care Services. As of Monday, 37,588 incarcerated individuals and 24,959 staff members had received the vaccine. More than 94,000 people are in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“We’re pleased at the pace that they have been going at and have constantly been urging the governor to continue that pace,” said Sara Norman, managing attorney for the Berkeley-based Prison Law Office. “Correction facilities have proven to be deadly. Like nursing homes, they are on top of the list of the deadliest places to be in this country
California Gov. Newsom Makes 3 Top Tech Appointments
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment of two award-winning state government IT veterans and one former Google official to high-level positions within the California Department of Technology. by Dennis Noone, Techwire.net / February 24, 2021 Shutterstock/SnapASkyline
The appointments of three key leaders in state IT governance were announced Tuesday evening by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
Liana Bailey-Crimmins has been named state chief technology officer in the California Department of Technology (CDT). Bailey-Crimmins, an award-winning veteran of state service, most recently served as chief information security officer for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System since 2019, where she had previously served as chief health director from 2017 to 2019 and chief information officer (CIO) from 2013 to 2017. She was CIO for California Correc
California Medical Facility, or CMF, is touted as the flagship medical institution of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR, but some with inside knowledge of its alleged treatment of incarcerated patients call that reputation into question.
According to multiple sources, including those incarcerated at the facility and lawyers representing them, the building lacks any heating or air conditioning and has poor ventilation despite being a medical facility that warehouses vulnerable people. During the 2020 fire season, the windows that were broken or unable to shut allowed smoke to flood the building.
Last year’s Vacaville fire came within miles of the facility, but despite initially being included in the fire department’s evacuation zone map, corrections officials deemed evacuation unnecessary for the prison and its neighboring facility, California State Prison Solano, according to a KQED article and multiple other news reports. When pressed by repo
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
San Quentin prison is fined $421,880 over deadly COVID-19 conditions; 28 inmates and an officer died [Los Angeles Times]
San Quentin State Prison is facing the largest single penalty in the state over workplace safety violations for failing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, resulting in the deaths of 28 inmates and one correctional officer and a total of 2,200 confirmed cases.
California’s oldest penitentiary was slapped with a $421,880 fine based on a June inspection that found numerous violations, including failing to report deaths and injuries in a timely manner and failing to isolate new arriving inmates infected with the virus, according to a report by the California Division of Occupations Safety and Health. The fine is nearly double the highest ever issued to any facility.