This story was told by a person incarcerated at Donovan.
Caller: And I had just caught sickness in Kern Valley State Prison called “Valley Fever”. It’s a fungus in your lungs and I caught pneumonia and this was a couple of years prior to COVID. And my left lung, they needed to put a test tube into my left lung and I had a test tube in my back for two weeks.
So when I caught the COVID, I used to workout, I used to jog, I used to run, and as soon as I caught the COVID, I was totally different now. I’m, my workout routine is not the same and yeah it’s crazy, This sickness really really affected everybody and not only me.
And what else was I going to tell you. And as far as the visitations and stuff, they took all the visiting away and everything and I understand, you know. They don’t want it to spread or nothing but now that everybody is getting vaccinated, and I do believe they know which inmates are vaccinated and if our people can provide proof that they’re vaccinated, they should allow us to have visits.
If not, they could still set up something where they – it’s illegal for us to have cellphones in here, right? But a lot of people buy new stuff like that [unintelligible] one and, but that was a blessing to have that to Facetime my family, my friends, to get on Facebook to tell my, my friends “ Hey I just got sick” you know and all the thoughts and prayers that poured in and just Facetime with my family, letting them know I’m okay, it’s okay.
And they’re hearing on the news all the stuff that’s going on in Donovan and the protestors, the families, and everybody that comes outside the facility to protest on some weekends. They don’t do it all the time but it’s been known to happen.
It’s, yeah it’s been a different experience. I’m 41 years old and it’s just like blew my mind how this pandemic has affected everybody and just to see the people that passed away that were around me. And it’s crazy, and I’m pretty sure it’s happening out in the streets.
I’ve had people, luckily I didn’t have no family members pass away, but know a lot of people that lost people out there in the streets and it can take a toll. If you don’t believe in God or have a higher power, some of these people, they do go crazy.
