The Sedgwick County Jail has been offering vaccination incentives to inmates, with residents will receiving $10 in commissary items if they get vaccinated.
The jail currently has 16 residents with COVID-19 and four staff members.
Only 13 residents got vaccinations in July, but once the incentive program was introduced, that number went up to 114 by the middle of August.
Jail Officials say the program is funded by a grant through “Kansas Beats the Virus,” and not by taxpayer dollars. They added that the facility’s commissary provider offered to match the $2,000 grant.
The Sedgwick County Jail began vaccinating residents in April, where they vaccinated 418 in their initial drive. The numbers then started to decline, with 258 in May, and only 41 in June.
Officials say the virus is taken seriously, and that the Sedgwick County Jail requires a 10-day quarantine for residents who are entering the facility in addition to other COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
