Letters: Justice not served in Hawbaker case; DOC vaccination policy isn’t working

Justice not served in Hawbaker case

Let me see if I understand this correctly — if someone steals a bag of potato chips and a six pack of beer and gets caught, they go to jail. However, if you are Glenn Hawbaker Inc. you can steal $20 million from more than 1,000 employees, and no one goes to jail, and they say there is no justice in America. Age old answer, money talks and the rich get away with murder.

DOC vaccination policy isn’t working

I have been startled by reports concerning COVID vaccination rates among staff members and prisoners at Rockview and Benner state prisons. Currently less than half of the staff members at both Rockview and Benner are fully vaccinated while over 85% of the inmates at Benner and 95% of the inmates at Rockview are fully vaccinated. Recently the percentage of cases among staff members at both institutions has been significantly higher than that among prisoners; however, the number of cases among prisoners at Rockview has been steadily climbing.

As I understand it, the current policy of the PA Department of Corrections mandates that prison staff members either choose to become vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID testing. That policy is not working. Testing is much less effective in stopping transmission than vaccinations. Too high a percentage of staff members continue to be infected with and potentially transmit the virus to other staff members and to prisoners. In most situations in our society, those who have chosen to be vaccinated have the freedom to choose not to be in the company of those who are not vaccinated. That is not the case in prison. Prisoners cannot avoid unvaccinated staff members.

Those who are imprisoned are punished by losing their freedom. That punishment itself is sufficient. As I see it, our commonwealth has the moral obligation to protect the welfare of prisoners by mandating that all prison staff members become fully vaccinated as soon as possible.

Unfathomable comparison

Do you know about what happened to the Jews in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s? Do you know about the German concentration camps?

If you read and know the historical facts, you know that because of their religion, Jewish men, women and children were taken from their homes. Many were placed into box cars and taken to prisons where they were separated from their family members. In these concentration camps, parents watched their children starve. Children watched as their parents were led into gas chambers they were told were showers and then gassed. Some were used by doctors who treated them as expendable animals to see the results of hideous medical experiments.

There is more, and if you know and read history (even if it makes you uncomfortable) you will know about the horrors inflicted on millions of human beings simply because of their religion.

And you may read about the many brave and good non-Jews who tried to rescue and help their fellow humans because of a deep sense of humanity and the need to do what was right.

I tell you about this because some Republicans are comparing these horrors of fascist Germany to being asked to get vaccinated against a virulent and contagious virus in order to protect not just themselves but vulnerable friends and neighbors.

Do you think this comparison is reasonable? Do you think people who make this comparison know their history?