This story was told by a family member of someone incarcerated at Chowchilla.
UCI: And so, what has the COVID situation been like for them?
Caller: The COVID situation for them was pretty hard in the beginning because all the programs and everything that they used to pass time closed down, along with visitation and everything. So, and aside from that, obviously, they weren’t following a lot of the procedures as far as, like, nothing was being sanitized and everything like that.
Vaccinations were not offered right away, but they coped pretty well with it overall. But it was just mainly everything closed out, and that affected them a lot.
UCI: And was the facility being responsible or as responsible as they possibly could have been, I guess?
Caller: Yeah. They weren’t being as responsible as they could’ve been, but eventually, that got a lot better.
UCI: Good. And so, how has that situation affected your family and you?
Caller: It affected us a lot because, well, number one, because visitation slowed down. We typically don’t get to visit him as often because of how far he is. But it affected just all forms of communication, such as calling in. So, every time that he would call us, it used to be kind of on a set day and set time.
And then after that, for a long period, they couldn’t call. And then when they could call, either, you know, they would have a lockdown. Someone would get in trouble, and then they wouldn’t be able to call for weeks.
There would be an outbreak; they couldn’t call again. So, we’d just think the worst and then-
UCI: Oh, man.
Caller: Yeah. Just we wouldn’t get to hear back from him. So, that was very worrisome in the beginning, at least when calls were just not coming in from him at all.
UCI: Were you able to write letters at all?
Caller: I was able to write letters. And the one thing that did help a lot was that JPay now does, it’s like emails. It’s kind of like instant messaging almost.
So, that did help a lot. And then, yeah, just now that the calls are, you know, almost back to normal, that helps a lot too.
UCI: How far along through the pandemic did it take for them to give you the option to use JPay?
Caller: Oh, man. I want to say maybe six months or more. I’m not exactly sure on that.
But I just saw so many different changes right away because my father has been incarcerated for over 15 years now. So, seeing all the changes happen so fast and it just was really worrisome on the family. And obviously, with everything going on, too, for everyone that’s not incarcerated.
UCI: Right, right. I’m sorry to hear that.
Caller: And everyone handled it very differently, you know, throughout the family, but the main thing is that at least we’re really grateful for JPay because it’s a lot quicker than mailing him. And then, we’re just really glad that at least we can get phone calls again.
UCI: And so, he never got sick?
Caller: He did not. He did not, but he got vaccinated as soon as he could. He did not get really sick.
UCI: Well, that’s good. From the vaccination.
Caller: Yes.
UCI: And so, as of right now, are the programs back up again? Or are they still in lockdown?
Caller: Some programs are up. I don’t think it’s 100 percent yet. But he’s already working again, which is great because everything basically closed down. From the jobs that they can have and just so many ways that they can pass time, everything completely shut down.
So, yeah, but he’s working again now, so much that he’s, you know, barely has time to do other things. And even for the call log, I guess there’s a certain time that everyone can call. And there’s a log that you have to sign up for to make these calls. But then, he’s even saying by the time he’s off work, it’s already filled up.
