Monroe County Sheriff Brad Swain is asking state health officials to immunize inmates from the coronavirus.
“If we do it while they are incarcerated, that’s one less person standing in line in front of you while you are waiting to get your vaccination,” Swain said.
Swain said there around 220 inmates in the Monroe County Jail. He wants 50 or 60 vaccines that can be given to inmates 65 and older. The Indiana Department of Health lowered the minimum age for Hoosiers to be eligible to get the vaccine to 65 on Monday.
Swain said even if inmates only get their first vaccination while behind bars, some of them may be transferred to other counties if they are facing separate criminal charges.
“To ensure that if they are not in our custody, wherever they are they get that second vaccination,” Swain said. “I reached out to the sheriff’s association that we need to be coordinating that.”
The sheriff said vaccinating inmates will also save taxpayers thousands of dollars, should that inmate be hospitalized for COVID symptoms.
Sheriffs in Johnson and Bartholomew counties also asked the state to provide vaccines for incarcerated inmates.
