Editorial: Why a $25 incentive for prisoners to get vaccinated makes sense

Some people were so eager to get back to a pre-pandemic life that they did anything they could to get a vaccine.

Some lined up at mass vaccination sites. Some called providers day after day after day until they could get an appointment. Some drove out of town or out of state to get the jab.

But others have been less eager. They only got it because they had to for work or school.

Now, as the number of vaccines has spiked and the number of people clamoring for it has dropped off, one group is being given a financial incentive to roll up their sleeves.

Westmoreland County Prison Board voted Monday to give inmates $25, payable in commissary credit, when they volunteer to receive the vaccine.

It’s enough to make some county taxpayers bristle. Inmates? Why should they be bribed to get the shot? Don’t they already get three square meals a day?

This is one of those stories where you have to wait until you get to the end before you make up your mind.

Vaccinating prisoners certainly protects prisoners. But keep in mind that a certain percentage of those incarcerated have not been convicted of anything. They are awaiting trial or other disposition, officially innocent until proven guilty.

There also is the fact that getting a potentially deadly virus is not an appropriate punishment, even for those who have been found guilty — especially since Pennsylvania hasn’t actually executed anyone who has gotten a death sentence since 1999.

But just because they should be able to get the vaccine doesn’t mean the county should pay them for the privilege, does it?

Well, that depends on whom you want to protect.

In the close quarters of cells and blocks, disease can spread easily — first through the inmate population, but then jumping to staff members, who come and go from the prison to the community. With 481 inmates in Westmoreland County Prison, that is a lot of opportunity to make the leap from inside to outside the walls.

Weeks ago, state prisons began offering inmates a $25 incentive, in their prison account, to get the vaccine. The ultimate reason was to protect the inmates as well as the staff. The money, as motivation, has the same point at the county level.

It is worth underscoring that the “money” isn’t really money. It is credit, which might spend the same but costs less. Credit for the prison commissary means the county is giving John Doe the ability to buy snacks and candy and hygiene products. A $25 order of Snickers, Cheetos and shampoo doesn’t necessarily cost the county $25.

The idea of paying inmates to do something in their best interest might be infuriating. But Krispy Kreme is paying people who can prove they got their shot in free glazed doughnuts, and that company doesn’t have a responsibility to keep hundreds of government employees and inmates — not to mention the community at large — safe.