This story was told by a person incarcerated at Avenal.
Caller: What else would you like to know?
UCI: Anything. I know you did mention about the vaccination situation. Did you personally get vaccinated?
Caller: I did, yeah.
UCI: What was that like? How was that process?
Caller: It was chaotic. Some people got the Moderna, some people got the Johnson & Johnson. The majority of us got the Moderna. It was a two-step process.
We went in the first time, took the shot, they gave us the card. We came back, I think, like, a couple of weeks later, took the second shot. You know, I caught COVID and I didn’t really have any symptoms. I had a headache.
My stomach was kind of queasy. I worked out every single day even when I was sick with COVID. So, it didn’t affect me as much as it did other people. I saw other people that went to the hospital. Someone that I knew personally in my building died.
When I took the first shot I had no symptoms. I was, okay, this isn’t so bad. When I went and took my second shot, my whole arm got really sore and I had a very low energy level for about a 24-hour period, which for me, I knew something was wrong because I usually am bouncing off the walls. So, I knew right away that the second shot kind of put me down.
But, they pretty much herded us over in big droves and we just, it was like an assembly line. You know, 20 people go in. They had about 20 stations in the gym.
Twenty people would go in, get your shot, boom, they would send you outside and you sat out on the bleachers. You sat there for about 15 minutes and they monitored you to make sure that you didn’t have a bad reaction. And then, after the 15 minutes they sent you back to the building.
UCI: You did mention though your second shot you did get some side effects?
Caller: I did.
UCI: Did your facility help you out at all with that?
Caller: No. The medical here, to be honest with you, when the COVID first hit here they were coming in every single morning and they were checking everybody’s temperatures, everybody’s breathing, everybody’s heart rate. They pretty much, they were doing our vitals every single morning.
But, outside of that, medical has been pretty much nonexistent. You know, other than the fact that, you know, once a lot of people started catching it they tested everybody in the building, and once they realized that almost everybody in the building has it they were just coming in and taking our vitals.
But, I mean, it’s hard to get an Ibuprofen if you have a headache here. It’s not, medical here is not like medical on the streets where you can go see your doctor and get a prescription. You know, you can go to the doctors here and tell them you have a headache and you have to convince four people, you know, that you really have a headache just to get a bottle of Ibuprofen.
UCI: That sounds awful.
Caller: Yeah, it’s not the best, you know, medical. Very unorganized. A lot of times, you know, it’s a long wait.
People wait so long to get medical attention. You know, I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff, you know, with that. But, I mean, you literally have to be bleeding in order to get any type of medical attention here.
UCI: That sounds horrible. Thank you so much for sharing that, by the way. That sounds horrible.
Caller: Yeah, absolutely.
UCI: Did your facility provide you with sanitizers or masks? Did they social distance you? How was their response to COVID positive inmates?
Caller: Okay, so, that’s a good question. Initially it was horrible. Our showers are on timers, so we usually have a shower scheduled. So, like, right now our showers turn on at 10:30 in the morning to 11:30.
From 2:45 to 4:15, and from 7:45 to 9:15. That’s our shower schedule. So, when COVID hit, after the initial wave of everyone getting it, they took the timers off the showers. They installed one bottle in the building of hand sanitizer. They did install some additional soap dispensers and they did provide us with masks.
So, they gave us 10 of the N95s. And pretty much whenever you want you can go over to laundry and take your old mask. So, I can go over to laundry, like, say I have seven masks that I’ve been wearing that are old, I can take seven masks over to laundry and exchange them for seven new masks.
They do require us to wear the mask inside the building, and in the chow hall, and at work. If you’re outside and you’re not with anybody you can take your mask off. The very second, you’re in a crowd of people and/or playing sports, you have to have a mask on. And they do want you social distancing. Obviously, you know, it’s hard to do that.
You got a building with 200 guys in it and you’re in a dorm. I’m in a dorm with 10 people and in a building with 200 people. No matter how you do it, if everybody were to remain six feet apart, it’s almost impossible just because of the population.
UCI: Yeah, I understand you with that one. I understand.
Caller: Yeah, so, I mean, obviously we do our best. You know, the cops stay on us all the time, “Put your mask on,” you know, “Separate, you can’t have more than two people at a table.” If you’re sitting at the benches in front of the TV they’ll come in and look, “Hey, you guys need to break it up or you guys.”
So, I mean, we’re trying to do our part, the cops are trying to do their part, but it’s hard. They did install, like for instance, on the phones right now it used to be just five phones on the wall, they did install barriers in between each phone. So, there’s plexiglass in between each phone now. So, when you’re over here on the phone talking you’re almost, like, in a little phone booth now.
UCI: Do you think it’s a good thing that they did that now?
Caller: I mean, yeah. I mean, I guess anything that they’re doing is, you know, for our safety. You know they’re, I mean, they were late doing it, but they started later on. But, you know, it’s just to prevent the spread and germs of passing, you know.
You know, there’s really only so much – me, this is my personal opinion, there’s really only so much they can do, I mean, outside of putting us in a bubble, you know. This is like a miniature city, we live here, you know. We all use the same bathrooms, we all use the same showers, we all use the same phones, we all sit in front of the same TV, we all go to the same chow hall, you know.
So, I mean, and it’s not like I have my own bathroom at my own house. I don’t have my own cell phone.
You know, I’m not eating at my own dining room table. I mean, due to the unfortunate circumstances, you know, we don’t have that luxury. So, I mean, you can see how herding a couple of hundred guys into a chow hall that’s enclosed, how fast COVID can spread if one person were to have it.
UCI: Yeah, you’re right, it’s awful.
Caller: I saw firsthand here one person caught it, and it was almost overnight it took off and almost the entire building caught it. I was really surprised at how fast it spread.
UCI: Wow.
Caller: One day no one had it, the next day everyone had it. And I look back at that time and I just – the best way I can describe it, have you ever seen the show “Walking Dead”?
UCI: Yes, I know that show.
Caller: That’s what I felt like. I felt like we were in a series of “Walking Dead” in the building.
UCI: Wow, that sounds horrible.
Caller: Yes, I felt like everyone was just walking around like a zombie. Everyone’s head was kind of foggy and cloudy, and you know, it was just a very weird time. People were sick, some people more than others. It was a very weird time.
UCI: Was it scary for you to see it spread like wildfire like that?
Caller: Yeah, it was. You know, because it was so new, there wasn’t a lot known about it. You know, and you see on the news where they’re, you know, digging mass graves, rolling in these big refrigerators, 600 people die at Kaiser in one day. It’s like you see that and now everyone has COVID, and you’re like, what’s going to happen to us.
No one really knows, you know. So, that was kind of scary. But, I was fortunate, you know, that it didn’t affect me as much as it did others. But, like I said, there was, for sure, two people died in my building.
One person I knew very well. And I want to say that there was probably another two people that died, but they were people that they had brought from other yards that left out the medical but they just never came back, so we don’t know what happened to them.
But, two people, for sure, in my building died. And that’s not counting, you know, that’s just one building of four on this yard. There’s six yards at this prison, and most of the yards have five buildings on it.
UCI: How did your facility react to people passing away from COVID-19? Did they try harder to keep it from spreading?
Caller: Well, I mean, I would say that they did their best, you know. But, again, I mean, you see how fast it spreads out there with you guys, imagine, you guys have the capability of staying home, you know, and ordering groceries online and having them delivered. And, you know, being safer on the streets is much easier than it is to do in here just simply due to the segregation.
We don’t have that. I live in a dorm, an open dorm at that, you know. So, not only am I in a bedroom with 10 people, but there’s no doors. The whole front of that dorm is open, and that opens up into the day room, which again has more people in it.
So, there’s just no escaping. You know, I mean, I felt like they could only do so much, you know. They brought in some hand sanitizer, they put the dividers between the phones, they put signs everywhere to social distance, they gave us face masks.
They, like I said, we weren’t able to go to yard with any of the other buildings, so we really only stayed amongst our building. So, I would say that they did the best they could, you know. And it was new to them, too, you know, so.
UCI: On that same note, what do you think your facility could have done to make the pandemic situation better?
Caller: You know, that’s a good question. I, I, you know, I don’t know what they could have done, to be honest with you. You know, they let us get our store, they let us get our packages. I honestly think, for the circumstances, I don’t know if there was much more that they could have done.
You know, it’s one of those things, you know. It’s, you know, like when a cold takes off, you know, everyone gets the little cough and cold. Well, this is just a different type of virus, you know. And I think before they knew what was on top of them, it was too late. It had already came into the prison and took off.
You got to remember, we were getting visits all the way up until the very last minute. You know, and the COVID, obviously we didn’t bring the COVID in, it had to have come from somebody outside.
UCI: Yeah, you’re right, from the outside.
Caller: Yeah, it could have came from a visitor, it could have came from a CO, a free staff. It’s [redacted], right?
UCI: Yes, my name is [redacted].
Caller: Do you want me to call you back?
UCI: If you have more to share, I could hear it.
Caller: It’s up to you. I mean, I can answer anything you want. If you have enough, I mean, I could call back and tell you whatever else you like.
UCI: Is there anything else you want people to know about your experience?
Caller: Oh, I don’t really have anything else. I mean, unless you have more questions that’ll help you guys.
UCI: Anything will help us. Really, anything.
Caller: Well, yeah, I mean, like I said, I can call you back and if you have more questions I’ll be more than happy to answer them.
