“Vaccination priority must be given to our frontline police officers before any prisoner,” says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“Not least for the obvious reasons that our frontline officers are dealing with potentially infected people every second of the day, but that prisoners are able to be easily isolated and contained.”

“The government needs to be asked who they think should be front of the line? Prisoners or Police?”

“We have had a government fail police officers in not prioritising their vaccinations, now we have prisoners demanding to be the front of the queue.”

“We wouldn’t be having this discussion if vaccinations were properly prioritised for all frontline essential workers. That includes all prison staff.”

“It is ludicrous that we are discussing prisoners being vaccinated ahead of frontline officers. Prisoners are literally in isolation as it is and in one of the most easily contained environments,” says Mr Ball.

“Almost everyone in New Zealand is desperate to get a vaccination and be safe from COVID. Of course that includes prisoners – but we need to use common sense and ensure we make our frontline essential workers the priority.”

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