The Alabama Department of Corrections is rewarding inmates with $5 in canteen credits to inmates who have gotten or plan to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Inmates can receive items like snacks, candy and personal hygiene products through the prison canteen, according to the Associated Press, which reported ADOC’s incentive program.
Agency spokeswoman Kristi Simpson told AL.com the state prison system’s vaccination rate is 62 percent -- nearly double Alabama’s rate of roughly 39 percent. The rate among state inmates increases to 65 percent when including prisoners who were vaccinated before being taken into ADOC custody, she said.
About 11,000 inmates have been vaccinated according to the latest agency data, updated last Friday. Nearly 875 ADOC employees have been vaccinated.
Since the pandemic began in March 2019, 66 ADOC inmates and three agency employees have died of COVID-19.