LordsFire
Internet Wizard
I would point out that this is not a new thing but a longstanding paradox in the American mindset: when the government imprisons someone, they are by definition responsible for the health of that person in a way that they are *not* responsible for free citizens. As a result, the government is generally viewed as having a much more strict obligation to provide food, shelter, and medicine to convicts in prison than it does for citizens in general. This is why it's philosophically not necessarily the government's problem when a homeless person freezes to death in the cold, but it is the government's problem when a convict dies in prison. A free citizen bears bottom line responsibility for their own well-being; a convict does not precisely because they are not free.
In addition, there's the practical consideration that prisons are a close contact situation where social distancing is not possible. If they're not prioritized in vaccine distribution, you get absolutely horrible epidemic outbreaks which are then spread to the outside community by the prison staff being infected too. Unless you're willing to basically imprison the staff as well, and that's going into some seriously fucked up territory.
You have a point or two here about the government having specific responsibility to prisoners they don't to common citizens, but you're also showing some ignorance.
First off, most prisoners are not in high-threat populations. Not a lot of 76+'s in prison.
Second off, if the concern was actually outbreaks in the prison spreading to the rest of the community via the prison staff, you'd vaccinate the staff, not the prisoners.
Third off, if the staff are the only vectors for the disease to get into the prison, then vaccinating them is the best way to protect the prisoners as well.
Under no circumstances does it make sense to prioritize low-risk prisoners for treatment over the general public.
Now, all of that said, given how long ago the 9/11 attacks were, it's possible this character is old enough to be high threat. That, however, begs an entirely new question.
Why the hell hasn't he been executed?
IIRC, isn't this supposed to be the guy who actually conducted the local planning for the whole damn thing?