This story was told by a person incarcerated at Avenal.
Caller: Hello?
UCI: Hello?
Caller: Is this [redacted]?
UCI: Hi, yes.
Caller: I have a question for you, do you know who [redacted] is?
UCI: I am not sure about that.
Caller: Okay. Well, she’s the one who wrote me the letter.
UCI: Oh, I could send a message to let anyone know that your letter was received. But, I’m glad to hear that.
Caller: Yeah, no, I was just curious if you knew her. She writes really well. I mean, I don’t know if this was, like, a standard letter, but whoever wrote it, I thought she wrote really well. That’s honestly one of the main reasons why I called, because it was written so well.
UCI: Thank you, I will definitely send that message over.
Caller: You guys are at UCI?
UCI: Yes, we are at UCI.
Caller: Now, let me ask you something, all this information, are you guys, have you guys had a high response from sending out letters?
UCI: We, oh, what was that, that last part? Sorry, I didn’t catch that.
Caller: Have you guys had a big response sending out letters?
UCI: Yes, we have received a very positive response.
Caller: That’s good. I was really caught off guard when I got this letter today. I was like, at first I was, like, kind of confused because the name on the envelope was [redacted]. Do you know who that is?
UCI: Yes, she is one of our supervisors, one of our professors for the program.
Caller: Yeah. So, on the letter, on the outside of the envelope it had her name, on the inside it was [redacted]. So, at first, I was like, what is this. And I started reading and I was like, oh, this is kind of cool. It’s going to be in archive and everything?
UCI: Yes, we are going to be an archive, a public website for everyone to hear your experience.
Caller: So, will I be on prisonpandemic.uci?
UCI: Yes, it will be on our website, and it is anonymous.
Caller: Okay, so, how will I know which one’s me?
UCI: Well, when you listen I think you’ll familiarize with your story which you shared.
Caller: Oh, well.
UCI: We do keep it anonymous for your safety.
Caller: Yeah, because I don’t know if you’ve ever heard about how these cops retaliate.
UCI: Oh, I have not.
Caller: Have you heard about that?
UCI: I have not heard about that.
Caller: Oh, yeah, the cops don’t like you telling anybody what’s going on in here.
UCI: Oh, no.
Caller: Yeah, they usually, you know, especially bad things, you know, they definitely don’t want you sharing it with anyone. Especially, you know, I’ve seen people that have, like, disappeared, you know. It’s like, one day they’re here, the next day they’re gone, you know. They’ve been moved somewhere else. So, remaining anonymous is probably a good thing.
UCI: That is really scary to hear. I didn’t know about that.
Caller: No one’s told you guys that?
UCI: I was aware that they probably wouldn’t be happy, but I didn’t know people were disappearing, too.
Caller: Yeah, oh yeah. It’s a very weird environment, you know. It’s, yeah, prison sucks. And then, you know, really you put the whole pandemic into it, you know, and the couple of things that you look forward, you know, like I said, your visits, things like that, you know, then you don’t have them and you’re like, “This really sucks.”
I’m very fortunate I have family out there that come and see me. They help me out financially. You know, so, you know, they want me to get out. And, you know, the pandemic in a way kind of helped us because we got additional time knocked off of our sentences. So,-
UCI: That is good to hear.
Caller: One step closer. Yeah, that put us one step closer to getting home sooner than original.
UCI: That is one positive, at least.
Caller: Yeah, we got the additional time. They also, I don’t know if you’ve heard about the percentage dropping. Have you heard about that?
UCI: The percentage for people with COVID?
Caller: No. So, okay, let’s say you’re a violent offender, you were sentenced to your time. Well, you’re going to do 85 percent of your time. Well, because of the pandemic, they took that 85 percent and dropped it to 80 percent.
Well, as of, I think it was May 1st, the Prop 57 passed and they’re dropping it from now 80 percent down to 66 percent. So, our time has been reduced dramatically because of the overcrowding, the pandemic, and they’re trying to get offenders out to reduce the population and also give people, you know, an incentive. Because if you’re staying out of trouble, doing the right thing, you’re going to get out earlier.
UCI: That’s good to hear. I didn’t know that. That’s good.
Caller: Yeah. So, you know, it gives you something to not only look forward to, but also strive to accomplish, you know, to get out. I want to get out and go back to school, go back to work. You know, I have a job waiting for me. So, that’s my main goal is, you know, I want to get out and I want to get back to my life.
UCI: Yeah. We understand, We understand.
Caller: Is there anything else you’d like to know about?
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.
So, you know, the pandemic affected us. Like, you guys were out there having toilet paper issues, and food was out of stock, and prices went up, and we dealt with the same stuff here. You know, we go to the, it’s called the canteen here, the store where we go and we get our top ramen, our beans, our rice, our tortillas, ice cream sodas, whatever you like.
Everything there has gone up. In fact, just this month alone the beans that they sell us here were $1.60 last month, well this month on the new price sheet they went up to $2.20. Mayonnaise was $2.95, now it’s $4.35. So, the cost of our canteen has everything. Creamer for your coffee went from $1.50 to $1.90. So, even that’s going up.
All of our prices here. And what sucks is we’re on a, we can only spend so much money a month at the store. You can only spend $220 a month at the store here. So, you’re getting much less for your dollar now. Which is kind of similar out there. I heard that everything’s going up out there, too.
UCI: Yeah, you’re right.
Caller: So, we’re dealing with the same stuff. It’s been long, it’s been hard, it’s been stressful, it’s been challenging, you know. It’s just trying to survive, you know, and get through it and, you know, hopefully come out on the other end.
And I’m pretty sure I could speak for everyone here, you know. Everyone here has one goal and that’s just to stay healthy and go home. Everyone in here wants to go home.
Everyone in here wants to get out to their families. You know, a lot of these guys, I saw a lot of guys that were just heartbroken. They were walking around for days on end because, you know, they called home and their mom, their dad, their grandma died because of COVID, you know.
So, you know, that’s been really hard. Thank god I haven’t lost anybody close to me, but you know, losing family and loved ones while you’re in prison, you know, adds an element of, you know, a whole other beast in its own. You know, people are, you know, working with feelings at that point, you know.
And, you know something can set them off, or they’re sad, or mad, or angry, you know, because they’re punishing themselves because they weren’t out there to be with them, you know. So, you know, I saw a lot of that. You know, that was really sad, you know, so.
UCI: Yeah, COVID is awful. It’s been bad.
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: I really want to thank you so much for sharing so much. We really appreciate you coming forward and sharing all of this.
Caller: Absolutely. You know, like I said, the girl who wrote the letter, wrote it really nice and it caught my attention. And I was like, you know, as you can tell, we don’t, I don’t have a lot going on tonight so calling and talking to you is kind of like the highlight of the night, I guess. You know, I figured, why not.
UCI: Thank you, I’m really happy to hear that we are providing happiness to you.
Caller: Anytime. And, you know, I hope that the information I share with you guys goes to good use and it can help you guys or whatever the cause is that you guys are doing, you know.
UCI: It will definitely help. It’s going to immensely help. Thank you so much for sharing everything.
Caller: Absolutely. Well, before I let you go do you have anything else you want to ask before I go?
UCI: You shared so much and I’m so grateful for that. If at any time you want to share more you’re more than welcome to call or send a letter.
Caller: All right. Are you usually there answering the phone?
UCI: I cannot guarantee that it’ll be me when I pick up the phone, but we are all ready and thankful to hear your story.
Caller: Would you like me to pass your guys’ phone number on to other guys here?
UCI: We would love that. That would be amazing.
Caller: Because I don’t think anyone else got a similar letter today that I got.
UCI: Oh, in that case that will be fantastic.
Caller: Yeah, I can absolutely. Like I said, I’m in a building with 200 people, so, I mean, I can definitely pass it on. I know quite a few people that will probably call. And I know some real characters here that I’m sure have got some pretty weird stories that they can tell you guys that will probably blow your mind.
UCI: Thank you so much, we would really appreciate that.
Caller: Absolutely, [redacted].
UCI: Yeah, yeah, you’re right.
Caller: That’s a very pretty name, by the way. But, it was nice talking to you. And-
UCI: No, thank you very much for calling and participating.
Caller: You’re welcome. And you have yourself a good rest of the night. And I’m going to go to that website and see if I can see my recording on there.
UCI: Yeah, of course. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you, and I hope you have a-
Caller: You’re welcome.
UCI: Have a great evening.
Caller: Have a good night.
UCI: Good bye.
Caller: You too. Bye-bye.
