This story was told by a person incarcerated at Avenal.
UCI: Is there anything else you want people to know about your experience?
Caller: I mean, you know, it was horrible. Prison by itself is horrible though, too, you know. So, it’s just another, another curveball thrown at us that we had to get through, you know.
It was long. It was challenging. It was, you know, hard all the way around. I mean, on every level.
I mean, from just your everyday eating to your everyday hygiene, to staying in contact with your family, having your visits, getting your mail. You know, I know on the streets you guys had your own set of problems, you know, getting toilet paper. Well, we had those same problems you guys had on the streets in here, you know.
So, you know, here it’s a, we’re dependent on the correctional officers, so it’s out of our control. So, you know, that was a huge thing, just sitting here being helpless, you know. I wanted to at so many times, I wanted to take it into my own hands and just do it, but you can’t.
You can’t just go hop in your car and drive to Target and buy toilet paper, you know. You can’t just go hop in your car, go to Safeway and buy dinner. We’re completely powerless here.
So, that was hard, you know, because, I’m the, I’m a very proactive type of person and, you know, that was very hard for me dealing with that, you know. We usually get two rolls of toilet paper a week, now we’re getting a half a roll, you know. So, just the basic, real basic everyday things that you take for granted, in prison is magnified times 10.
