BOSTON (WHDH) - Massachusetts is offering shorter sentences in the form of “earned good time” to prisoners who get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I have determined that receiving the vaccine is significantly valuable to rehabilitation and will therefore be offering earned good time,” Department of Correction Commissioner Carol A. Mici said in a memo.
Inmates will be required to read and watch educational materials on the vaccine, as well as get both doses in order to qualify for a reward of seven-and-a-half days of earned good time, according to Mici.
“Prisoners are eligible to earn deductions from sentences and completion credits, collectively known as good conduct deductions, for participation in and completion of programs and activities,” Massachusetts law states.
Upon receiving their second dose, inmates will be required to attest in writing that they viewed and read through the educational materials.
Massachusetts is one of only a few states that offered the vaccine to inmates in Phase 1 of the rollout.
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