This story was told by a person incarcerated at Chuckawalla.
Caller: Okay. Well, the problem I have is that they’re – they’re making me go to work during this pandemic.
And I work in the kitchen. And what happened was – is that they – they wrote me up because I refused to go in to work, and they wrote me a 115 for not coming into work. And they said I refused to work, but I never refused to work. It’s I told them that I didn’t want to put my life in danger because I’m a diabetic. And while that happened, it’s – it’s a lot of people that kept getting sick in the other buildings and they were working in the kitchen, too.
So now we’re – they have three buildings on this yard at this time, and one is already down, and those are kitchen workers that got sick. So right now, I’m trying to fight this 115 and they found me guilty on it because they said I refused to work. But I never refused to work. I only refused to put my life in danger. And pretty much, that’s what’s going on here right now. And like right now, all they have two – two buildings, one on another yard and one on this yard, that’s locked down for quarantine.
And, like, four people already died on the other yard. It’s – it’s kind of – it’s kind of crazy right now because they trying to make us go to – keep going to work, and I – I really don’t want to go in there, but I don’t want to get another writeup because I’m a lifer and it – it will make me where I won’t go home. So, you know, that – well, pretty much that’s the story for me.
So I’m – I’m – thank you for listening to me.
UCI: You’re welcome. Do you have anything else to say? We have…
Would you like to tell me — Would you like to tell me anything else about your situation?
Caller: No, ma’am.
UCI: Okay. We have 15 minutes.
Caller: We have what?
UCI: Fifteen minutes.
Caller: Fifteen minutes.
UCI: Yes, sir.
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: How have you been coping?
Caller: Huh?
UCI: How have you been coping?
Caller: Well, actually, not really good because they keep making me go to work and I don’t want to go in there, but it’s – you can only do the best you can with these people because they don’t care about us. They have no care in the world. Today the building that’s down, that’s on quarantine right now, the officers that work in there are coming over here to work in here.
And I’m, like, what are they doing? That don’t make no sense. You got two cops coming in here that’s working in the quarantine building and they coming in here to work. And I’m, like, wow. This is – it’s ridiculous the things they’re doing. And it’s – it’s – it just keeps happening. And they won’t stop doing it.
They don’t care about us. So, you know, it’s – it’s not really much I can really cope with around here with this, just – just try to just do what I can to just survive in here. I don’t want to go – I don’t want to get a 115, but I – I have to go to work, so – and I don’t need it because they already gave me one and I got to go to the board. So if I go to the board with that 115, they’re not going to let me go home.
So I don’t – I really don’t – I really can’t tell you any much, you know, too much more about it because they – it’s just [unintelligible] don’t care, so –
UCI: Okay. Would you like to tell me –
Caller: Hello?
UCI: Hi. I’m still here. Would you like to tell me about the beginning of the situation until now, anything that you can recall from the beginning? Maybe how has it changed since the beginning from now – until now?
Caller: Oh, okay. Well, when it first started, we didn’t know.
We didn’t know what was happening when it first started. They came and told us that, okay, these guys got to leave out the kitchen, but they all working with us. This is when – like in March it started and they – it took two buildings out and left us in there to work, and after that, they took us out. So then it – all the officers had to go to work. But then after a month or two, then they didn’t want to do it no more, so they start calling us in talking about this critical workers, this critical workers need to come in or you getting a write-up or whatever.
And I’m, like, it’s a pandemic. How you going to write me up when I’m trying to survive up in here? I – I got a life sentence, but I don’t have a death sentence; you know? And they put my life in danger, but it went on from there and they started getting better with the cleaning and doing all of these things, but it’s what you – they say close – they closed our day room for cleaning.
They clean up for, like, five seconds, wipe a table, and then they’re done. It’s not – that’s not cleaning. I was a porter for – for three years and that’s not cleaning. They don’t even use the right chemicals. They don’t use nothing they supposed to use to do the stuff with, and they won’t even give us chemicals to clean our – the cubes that we’re in. It’s eight people in a cube and they won’t give us the cleaner, but they want us to find ways to keep – keep lean up in here.
They – they put announcement on there with, okay, keep your areas clean and stay six feet away. How we going to stay six feet away? We in a open dorm. Everybody’s everywhere around here. It’s almost 200 people in this dorm and it shouldn’t have but 120. But I can’t do nothing about that. But it’s – it’s getting weird right now and they’re trying to do better, but it’s not working because you got a dorm full of people that don’t care about theirself.
So I try to stay away, I try to keep my mask on, I try to do the things I’m supposed to do to keep my area clean, but it’s only so much you can do if they won’t give you the stuff to clean with. So, you know, it’s – it’s kind of weird, but trying to do the best I can.
UCI: Yes, sir. What do you think would make the situation at your facility better?
Caller: Well, only thing I could say is the people that’s – that’s in here that don’t have a lot of time, at least let them go. You know, let them – and start knocking the numbers down in these buildings because it’s almost like 190 up in here, almost 200 people in one building, and they’re everywhere. How we going to stay six feet apart? We got fans blowing. If somebody cough, it blows all over the building. So they need to start letting some of these people go.
That’s what they need to do. At least the ones with low level stuff. They not even letting nobody go right now. I don’t even – I don’t know how they doing that. It – it’s people like me that got diabetes, they don’t care about me. They got me stuck in this building and I can’t get away from these people. I try to go to work as much as I can, but I can’t – I got to go – oh, I got to be on the arm right next to somebody working on the line feeding everybody on this yard. But only thing I could say about that is start trying to release some of these people and get them out of here so we can knock the numbers down in these buildings. That’s…
UCI: Yes, sir. Is there anything else that you would like people to know about your experience at this time?
Caller: No, ma’am.
UCI: Okay.
Caller: Hello?
UCI: Okay. Are you ready to get off or is there anything else you’d like to say?
Caller: Yes, ma’am.
UCI: Okay. So it is now 10:16 p.m. Thank you so much for participating in PrisonPandemic. I’m going to end this call and recording. Thank you.
Caller: Thank you.
UCI: Thank you. Bye.
Caller: All right. Bye-bye.
