This story was told by a person incarcerated at Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail.
UCI: How has COVID been like in the facility that you’re in right now?
Caller: It’s just – it’s not well – it’s not doing well. Because, like I said, I’ve been here. I caught it in here.
I’ve been out there for all this whole time I’ve came in here. And then never caught COVID being out in the public. And I come here and everybody’s this close – so close.
And, they’re sometimes, I heard they’re putting in people like directly from the streets into our – our dorms and living areas, without testing them or quarantining them. So that’s how I ended up getting it in, you know, in August.
It took me from the end of April to August to get it. I got – ended up getting COVID. I had a bad headache.
And I reported to the nurses, as nurses come to your cell like two, three times a day, anyways, for pills, you know, to take – bring medication to other inmates. And I told them I wasn’t feeling well, if I could get like an ibuprofen or something.
And this, oh, you have to submit a paperwork, you know, submit a paper, submit a paper. So I did, later on that evening. And that was like on Friday. And that’s when I started feeling the symptoms.
I just had like a bad headache. And it was a bad headache and dizziness. And that was like Friday, Saturday. And then, Sunday, I lost my taste.
And, like I said, I had already submitted the paper. So, then, they didn’t call me to medical until Tuesday. And so I was exposed to all those people.
And, now, Tuesday – but there was like – there was like 18 of us in that dorm. Because it was a privilege dorm. So it was only 18 of us, where, normally, there’s 64 people.
And they – and so there was like six of us, out of the 18, that were sick. Because they were bringing in people from the streets, and like directly into our, you know, our living area. Which is only supposed to be for veterans any – for military veterans. That’s why we only had 18 people in there.
UCI: And so did you just have any fever or anything like that?
Caller: No. I had no fever, no nothing. I had no fever. I just had dizziness. Like I put my head down and I got like a automatic, instant headache.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: And then, when I picked up my head, I’d feel like dizzy, like I was going to faint.
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: I was like what the heck? So I knew something was wrong because I never get sick.
UCI: Mhmm. Yeah.
Caller: I asked them. And then, after – yeah, so, Tuesday, they called me to medical. And – and then, they brought me down to downtown. Because they said that what I told them – all the symptoms I had – that they felt I had COVID.
So they brought me downtown. And they tested me. And then, the next day, yeah, they said I had COVID. And then, after – but they said, at that time, already, by Tuesday, I was already asymptomatic. Because I didn’t have no symptoms.
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: I didn’t have no fever. I didn’t have no headache no more, nothing. So, for me, it only lasted three, four days. And, after that, so they kept me there for like – what – like 11 days.
UCI: Oh, okay.
Caller: 11 days. And they were coming to – to test me for like – twice a day – whatever – my vitals and whatnot. But, the living – just living there, I didn’t feel was – was right either. Because we were with COVID.
And they were bringing other people in there, too – in your – in your cell. You know? So it was two of us that had COVID.
UCI: Oh. So they just brought random people in there, who just like didn’t have COVID at all?
Caller: No. No. They had COVID, supposedly. They had COVID, but-
UCI: Oh, okay.
Caller: But still, it’s like how are we supposed to get better if-
UCI: Yeah. If they’re just introducing more.
Caller: We didn’t have the same amount of days. You know?
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: Yeah. So it feels like it’s cross contamination.
UCI: Yeah. How was the –
Caller: And, living there, it sucks. It sucks. Because they don’t change your clothes or – I thought, from what I read, it said like you have to get rid of the clothes you had if you’re sick. You know?
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: As soon as you get there or whatnot. They change – they change your clothing and bedding. While they never did the whole time I was there. I think they changed clothes like one time.
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: And you only get to shower like – like three – three times a week, if even that.
They even skipped like one time a month – one week, during the week, we only had like one time. So, and then, it’s just horrible there.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: It’s like – it’s you’re being punished for catching it, when it’s their fault for not doing what they’re supposed to by the medical guidelines and whatnot.
UCI: Yeah. And they make it seem like it’s your fault and just make it even worse for you and just like making it really unsure – making it really unsure as to whether or not you’re going to get better. Because you don’t know. Like we don’t even know, you know.
Caller: Yeah. Yeah, there’s a lot of people, too, that they don’t say they got it. We know they got it. Because they have all the symptoms. You know?
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: But they don’t want – they don’t say nothing. Because they don’t want to be quarantined. Because, if someone here, in this tier, has it, they’ll quarantine the whole tier.
And we can’t move. There’s no movement. You can’t go to court. You can’t – you can’t go to visits – nothing. So everybody just sucks it up and doesn’t report it.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: Like I say, of the six people where I was at, I was the only one who – who reported it and went and got diagnosed and said I had it. You know?
Everybody else stood there. And they’re all mad because I went to medical.
UCI: Yeah. But, you know, you were looking out for yourself, too. You know? This was still something that’s like new and you don’t know. You don’t know what – how you could react.
Caller: Yeah. I know. People were dying from it, I’m like shit. I mean, even though they feel that way, I still didn’t feel like myself. You know?
UCI: Yeah. And you said you never get sick, so it’s like – because I’m the same way, too. Like I barely get sick. So, then, when I do get sick, I’m like, “Okay. This is serious.”
Caller: Yeah. Yeah. That’s how it’s always been for me. Like I’ve never gotten sick. So it’s like, I right away, I knew I was sick.
UCI: Mhmm. And so-
Caller: Because somebody came and asked me for – “Hey.” Because I had a honeybun. And they’re like, “Hey, can I get some of your honeybun?”
I’m like, “Man, I can’t even taste it right now. Want me to – want me to open it and serve it to you?” You know?
UCI: You’re like, “I can’t taste the honeybun. You can have it, I guess.”
Caller: Yeah. I can’t even enjoy it. So want me to open it? That’s so good. So I’ll – what else-
UCI: That’s funny. Yeah. You’re like, “Fine. Take it, I guess.”
You’re like, “Put me out of my misery. Fine. Take it. Take it. I can’t taste it.” And so how has the vaccine situation been like there? Like do they like-
Caller: Actually, I requested it like three weeks ago. I still haven’t got it. Because I’ve been trying to go up – up – I’ve been trying to – since they released me from quarantine, the first time, when I got tested, they released me like after 11 days.
I went back to general population. And I was there for like five days, in general population. And they called me to go to the prison. So I came over here to go to prison.
They tested me. This is nothing – there’s more to the story. They tested me to go to pri- they have to test you to go to prison.
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: So, and then, I tested positive again. So they – but they said I was asymptomatic. You know? Because I had no symptoms, no nothing.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: So they’re coming and checking my vital – my temperature and vitals – whatever – every day – every day, like for another two weeks. And, after – after two weeks, they tested me again. And I tested positive again.
UCI: What? That’s crazy.
Caller: Yeah. So then they – yeah – so, then, they sent like a whole – like there was like 60 of us. They cleared out a dorm.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: And they put everybody that was asymptomatic in the dorm. But – but yet, the same thing – those people arriving like different days – like I could see like if they put us all in there in one day – which most of us did – we were all in there like one day. And there was like 45 of us got there the first day. And then, like there was like another 20 added within the next 11 days I was there.
UCI: Yeah and like even with that, you know –
Caller: I was there for 11 days, too.
UCI: Yeah cause there’s like variants and stuff of COVID. So, you know, different things could –
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: Because you shouldn’t have had it for that – yeah – you shouldn’t have had it for that long, if everything was fine. You know?
Caller: Yeah. They’re saying I’m – I’m asymptomatic or whatnot. But I don’t know. We just have a theory that they’re just using us for money.
UCI: Do they get money or something?
Caller: They’re not trying to – they’re not trying to release us to prison, you know, so they can get money. Because they’re getting money from the state because I’m a state body. I’m not a – I’m not a county body. So, the longer I’m here and the prison wants me, the prison has to pay the county to house me here.
UCI: Oh. I see what you mean. Yeah.
Caller: It’s a big old money Ponzi.
UCI: What was that?
Caller: It’s a big old – I said it’s a big money Ponzi.
UCI: Yeah. All of it. All of it. Everything. That’s all it is. Everything is that.
Caller: Everybody’s getting a cut.
UCI: Yeah. If it serves them, then so be it. You know? And that – that’s what sucks.
It’s like, you know, everyone, we’re still human and, you know, we all just like deserve to be treated as so. Like it’s – the stories you hear, it’s just like it’s ridiculous. I’m like people are just like, you know, human.
Caller: That’s – it’s – it’s horrible. And, in quarantine, I was like, “Oh. Hell, no.” When they moved me out of the prison roll – when they moved me to their last dorm, where we’re all asymptomatic, they told us that we’re going back to towers.
That’s where the regular was – the regular one was – like where you’re in one-man, two-man cell.
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: I was like, “Hell, no. I don’t want to go back there.” Because, right there, you don’t – like I say, you don’t get to shower. You ask them for toilet paper and they act like asking for – getting toilet paper is like too much for them to do.
UCI: Yeah. Yeah.
Caller: The cops here, like they’re just like lazy. They’re right there. They’re just on their cell phones all day. Ah I need it – you know? “I need some toilet paper. Can you get me some toilet paper?”
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: “Oh, not right now. Like, yeah, later. Yeah. Later, later.”
UCI: Later?
Caller: Yeah. But it’s – it’s, I don’t know – a lot of people don’t know how it is in here. It’s like, if you see how they were in here, I mean some are cool, for the most – you know, some – especially, here, in the old county – officers are real cool.
But, in – at Wayside and everything, they’re jerks. Cause they’re mostly like new people – new – new officers over there.
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: They’re all young. And they’re just jerks over there.
UCI: Yeah. Young and arrogant and bold.
Caller: Yeah. Yeah. My daughter writes me. She goes, “Dad,” she goes, you know, she goes, “How can I help you” – whatever. She goes, “I already know. So I don’t like cops. They’re bullies.”
UCI: This is – yeah?
Caller: My daughter, she’s just liberal. She just graduated Berkeley, like-
UCI: Oh. Good for her. I bet you’re proud of her. Good for her.
Caller: Yeah. She’s doing her Master’s now.
UCI: Well, that’s awesome. What does she study?
Caller: She graduated with a 4.0 there, too.
UCI: Oh, wow. Look at her. What is she studying?
Caller: I’m like, damn. She’s cognitive science.
UCI: Oh, wow. That’s really cool.
Caller: I think it’s sort of what you’re doing.
UCI: Yeah, yeah. I’m doing – yeah, that’s so cool. That’s so cool that she’s doing that.
Caller: Yup. The first assignment I was – but I always like tell her like [unintelligible]. Do you speak Spanish?
UCI: Sí. Yeah.
Caller: Yeah. Siempre la apoyaba. You know?
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: You know you can do it, you can do it.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: She – I saw her first C ever in her life was her freshman year. And I go, “You know, that’s the first C you’ve ever gotten in your life?” After, she was like all bummed about it. I go, “Don’t be bummed about it. I don’t mean it like in a bad way.”
I go, “It’s just something new for me as it is for you.” You know?
UCI: Mhmm. Yeah.
Caller: She goes like, “Oh. I know, Dad.
UCI: Yeah – yeah.
Caller: You know, it’s harder for me at the university now.” I was going, “I know.”
UCI: Yeah. You just believe in her. You know? Yeah. It’s different. Cause you believe in her. Yeah. It’s like not even a bad thing. It’s just like, huh?
Caller: Yeah, it’s cool – it’s cool, though. I was disappointed when I found out that they were going to have – when she graduated, in May – and they were – they did all virtual.
UCI: Aw.
Caller: I was like all hell nah. Yeah, but, luckily, she got accepted to do her Master’s. And I guess, normally, she told me that they usually have to do that on your own or whatnot. But, since she’s Chicana and all that, first in the family, she got like scholarships, and-
UCI: Yeah. They do give a lot of money. Yeah. Good for her, though. She deserves it. You know?
Caller: Yeah. They paid for it and everything. So, well, that could – I told her – that’s what I always told her. I go, “You need to stand out.” You know?
I told her, “You could do it.” And she – her last year – junior and senior year – she got 4.0, 4.0 – her junior and senior year at the – so I’m like – and I’m like, “Man.” I go, “You know how proud you make your dad.”
UCI: Yeah. For sure. Yeah. You’re probably so proud of her. She’s going to do so much with that. You know?
Caller: I go “See?” I go, “See? Look at it.” I go, “Hasta nosotros tenemos hijos buenos.”
UCI: Yeah. Hay algunos.
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: And so how has-
Caller: But that’s basically – mande?
UCI: Oh. I was going to say – I was like so how has it affected, like, seeing your loved ones? Like, are you allowed visitation rights or are you, like, just letters or phone calls?
Caller: I don’t – I don’t really – I’m not really the visit guy. I just talk on the phone. I’m not too like curt. Like I talk to my kids on the phone like two, three times a week. You know? My mom – that’s about it. I don’t talk to nobody else.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: You know? I don’t – everybody’s over it. Everybody’s over it. It’s like I’m over it. Like, damn. No. I was like, “Are you done yet? Are you done yet?” “I don’t know.”
UCI: Yeah. Well, at least, you have your like your daughter.
Caller: I do. I try to. But-
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: But I-
UCI: I said, at least, you still have like your daughter to talk to and just like see what she’s up to.
Caller: Yeah, yeah. It’s – it’s really a blessing to have. You know? Like my girls never gave me any problems, nothing.
They weren’t the party- “Oh, I want to go party and weekend.” They weren’t that type. They were – rather study. You know?
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: But I instilled that in them since they were little.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: Since they were little, I told them, “You know, the chiquitas.” So, after they were like third, fourth grade, they did it on their own.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: I didn’t have to be on their back.
UCI: Yeah. They knew. You know? Sometimes, just a little bit – a little goes a long way. You know? They like understood.
Caller: Yeah. And so I just – I go, [unintelligible], I was always in the advanced classes and everything too – college prep, advanced classes. Me, I would try to fail my classes on purpose.
Because none of my friends were in my classes. [unintelligible], pense que era la cosa buena. I thought it was something good and fun for my life.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: And I would try to fail. And the teachers would tell me, “No. I’m not gonna fail you, because how is it that you get A’s in your tests but you don’t do – you just – you never turn in homework or nothing?”
UCI: Mhmm. Yeah.
Caller: You know?
UCI: Yeah. They catch on to that stuff really quickly.
Caller: Like – yeah. They’re like, “We know you’re not dumb.” Which I’m like, “Hmm?”
UCI: You’re like – yeah – they knew you were smart.
Caller: Yeah. I’m just glad – I’m glad my kids didn’t waste it. You know?
UCI: Mhmm.
Caller: Follow – try to follow me and be like callejeras.
UCI: Yeah. No. They’re smart. They’re smart, like you. They’re smart.
Caller: But that’s why I raised my kids in Orange County. That’s why I moved – that’s why I moved from LA to raise my kids in Orange County.
UCI: That’s smart.
Caller: I raised them over there. And they haven’t had no problems over there. I’m sure, if I would’ve raised them where I grew up, it would have probably been different.
UCI: Yeah. I mean you did what was best – what you thought would have been best. You know? It is about your environment – who you’re around. You know?
Caller: Yeah. I’m a – they say it’s not, but it is.
UCI: Yeah. It really is. If you’re around something all the time – yeah. And, you know, and having like a father that like, you know, like that, te apoya, like that always is helpful, too.
And like it just puts you in like a good mindset to just be like, “You know what? I can make something of yourself.” And like there you go. Your daughter – Master’s, already getting her life started.
Caller: Yeah. I always instilled it in them you could do it. You could do it. You can do it. And I mean-
That’s all you have to keep telling yourself. But, me, now, I just can’t seem to control my anger sometimes.
But it’s been a pleasure helping you. I wish you the best in your grades. And que sigas pa adelante.
UCI: Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for participating in the call and PrisonPandemic. And please consider telling your friends about us and seeing if they would like to call in. We always just like hearing stories and just letting people know what it’s actually like and what’s going on.
Caller: Okay. Okay. Thank you.
UCI: Thank you so much.
Caller: Thanks for your letter, though.
UCI: Mhmm. Buenas noches.
Caller: All right. You have a good night.
UCI: Bye-bye.
