This SC jail is offering inmates money to get the COVID vaccine. But will it pay off?
As the delta variant of the coronavirus tears through South Carolina, where the contagious strain is overwhelming hospitals and upending school district plans for in-person learning, a sheriff has started paying jail detainees who agree to get vaccinated.
In a blog post outlining the jab-for-cash effort this week, Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano said she sees the program as an extension of what she was elected to do: To keep the community safe.
“I’m doing my part to fight against the COVID pandemic,” Graziano wrote.
Nationally, jails and prisons have been COVID petri dishes. The infection rate among the nation’s prisoners is more than five times higher, and the mortality rate three times higher than among the general population, according to research from medical experts.
The Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston has been no exception.
While the Charleston County jail saw its COVID infections drop dramatically in the spring, Graziano said the jail has seen “a dramatic uptick” in its local case numbers ever since the delta variant arrived in the Charleston-area.
The sheriff’s office also confirmed that a man in the jail’s isolated COVID-19 unit had to be transported to the Medical University of South Carolina for respiratory distress on Aug. 26.
On Aug. 29, he returned back to the jail and has been isolated in the medical infirmary.
When Graziano published her blog post on Tuesday night, she wrote that there were 58 detainees quarantined in a COVID-positive unit at the jail. Two days later, that number jumped to 67, in another sign of how contagious this deadly virus has become.
Along with the isolated COVID-positive unit at the jail, five other units are under medical observation, or quarantine.
“I decided it was time to get more aggressive in offering vaccines to residents, and it was also time to get creative on how to encourage residents to participate in the vaccination program,” Graziano wrote. “It was time to offer incentives.”
The jail began offering to pay inmates to get vaccinated two weeks ago on Aug. 19.
Detainees at the Al Canon Detention Center can receive up to $50 if they get inoculated. They are paid either $25 for each of the two doses of the Moderna vaccine, or $50 for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
So far, the effort appears to be paying off.
Before the incentive, the jail had only managed to vaccinate 45 of its detainees, according to Amber Allen, the communications director for the sheriff’s office.
As of Sept. 1, the jail has vaccinated 446 incarcerated people at its facility — an amount that totals some $18,125 in payouts so far.
The jail currently houses 833 adults and 31 juveniles.
The jail is using money from the Inmate Welfare Fund to bankroll the incentive program, Graziano said. The trust exists to promote “overall inmate welfare” and is funded by a portion of inmate purchases at the canteen.
However, the jail doesn’t fork over cash directly to the inmates after the jab. Inmates are not allowed to have U.S. currency. Instead, the money is placed into the inmate’s commissary account, which they can use to purchase goods at the canteen, like snacks or socks.
When detainees leave the jail, Graziano said any dollars leftover in their commissary account are paid out as cash when they are released.
And, if an inmate begins the Moderna vaccine series while in jail but is released before they can receive the second dose, Graziano said the jail will either provide them with a ride to a vaccination clinic or give them information on where they can go on their own.
The same day the jail began offering inmates the monetary incentive, Graziano also invited pastor Aaron Hicks to speak with a group of inmates about why he decided to get vaccinated.
“These guys behind these walls are still human beings and these guys behind these walls are still dealing with the virus. Them being vaccinated (is)a good thing because they can return to their families vaccinated and a lot of them do have children and wives,” Hicks told Charleston TV station WCBD of his visit in August.
Combining the new monetary incentive with a personal story was meant to sway the vaccine hesitant, Allen said.
“During the sheriff’s and faith leaders’ visits with residents, the ones who engaged in conversation often had heard the conspiracy theories regarding the vaccines or were skeptical of their effectiveness,” Allen said. “But many took to heart the intention of protecting themselves while they were inside the detention center, as well as protecting their families when they were able to leave.”
Graziano is not the first to roll out incentives meant to encourage inmates to get vaccinated.
While South Carolina’s Department of Corrections is not offering monetary incentives to its inmates, it is offering another type of motivator for its inmates to consider getting inoculated.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said only vaccinated inmates at the state’s minimum security prisons and its women-only facilities are allowed to have in-person visitation.
To date, she said 58% of the state’s prison population has been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“All an inmate has to do is ask for it,” Shain said, noting that the department continues to offer vaccines to inmates on a regular basis.
In neighboring North Carolina, prison officials are offering inmates sentence reductions if they get vaccinated before the end of the year. And in Washington, one jail began giving away ramen noodles, one of its most popular commissary items, to inmates who sign up to get their first COVID shot.
In South Carolina, health officials continue to look for creative ways to incentivize more residents to get that shot in the arm, but the state has shied away from direct payments.
Graziano’s effort comes as COVID-19 is again spiking in the Palmetto State.
Earlier this week, public health data revealed South Carolina now leads the nation in COVID-19 cases per capita.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 2:15 PM.
