Though virus has torn through correctional facilities, most prison workers are declining vaccines By Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff,Updated February 14, 2021, 5:04 p.m. Email to a Friend An inmate is returned to his cell by a correctional officer at the Worcester County Jail and House of Corrections in West Boylston. Officials started administering COVID-19 coronavirus vaccines in Massachusetts correctional facilities in late January.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff More than half of the employees in the Massachusetts Department of Correction have declined the stateâs offer to get the COVID-19 vaccine at work, even as the virus has wreaked havoc across the prison system, infecting roughly 900 workers and killing 21 inmates.