This story was told by a person incarcerated at Chino.
UCI: So, what has the COVID situation been like at your facility?
Caller: It’s like. I don’t know man, they’re doing a lot of weird stuff in here. Like it’s, it’s like a lot of stuff. It’s a lot of stuff, honestly.
It’s like about, like, first of all, I had caught COVID one time and that was back in, I caught COVID in December, around my birthday. Yeah. I caught COVID in December. And like, you know, it’s a regular quarantine and stuff and they, they separated me away from everybody else.
One cell, you feel me? And it was, one person per cell, but like, you know, they brought me back into another atmosphere where I can’t with the environment that I can catch COVID again. And, you know, I actually did catch COVID again. I had symptoms when I came back to this dorm and it was like, they brought me back to the same place.
And so, this dorm started, like everybody started catching COVID and stuff in here. And the dorm that I’m at right now, it was like a big argument or a big controversy to the people in here. Like, you know, some people in here that have years and they’ve been here for years, 10 years, 20 years.
So, when they were asked to leave to go to quarantine, most of them stood up, they said no. And everybody said no. And long story short, they won.
Like they won a little argument. They had the captain and then the sergeant coming here and all that stuff, like they all talked it out and they came to an agreement that they stay.
And like the people who didn’t have like the, like, people like us that didn’t have test positive for COVID yet, it was like, we were asked out, like, we couldn’t go anywhere. They put the whole dorm on quarantine and we couldn’t go nowhere. So, we were stuck in here with the people who did have COVID, like, you know, they didn’t do anything about it.
UCI: Gotcha. Wow, man. And what about the vaccination situation? What has that been like at your facility?
Caller: Like, some people, like, don’t want to get vaccinated. And I understand that because I haven’t even been vaccinated yet, but you know, they offer vaccinations and stuff like that. Like, with the vaccination part. Yeah. They, they like, you know, they offered it to everybody, you know, and they’re fair about that.
UCI: Mm-hmm. Okay, and you said that since they’re offering it to everyone, have they been providing information about the vaccine and ,like, telling you guys, like, what the side effects are or nothing like that?
Caller: Well, they give us a paper. Like, if you want to go through with it, they give you a paper and they show you all the side effects and stuff like that.
UCI: Oh okay, good, good, good. That’s good to hear. What about your loved ones? How has the COVID affected your loved ones?
Caller: Yeah. Well, my wife had just caught COVID like a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, she had to go off work. My brother and his baby’s mother caught COVID, like, it’s hitting him pretty hard, you know, honestly. And when I caught COVID, I couldn’t talk to nobody for like weeks.
And that was another thing. When I went to quarantine, I only got one phone call every 30 days. And it was like, you know, it’s it really, it really affected us.
UCI: Yeah. Wow, man, you said one call every 30 days. So, you know, I’m, I’m guessing it took like a pretty hard hit on your, like, mental and emotional health right?
Caller: Yeah, yeah. They put you in quarantine and they treated you like it’s the hole, you get one phone call every 30 days and you shower like two, three times a week. It’s like, you’re in the hole. Like you did something wrong.
Caller: And they stopped certain people from going to the store because we only go to the store once a month. And when you’re in quarantine, they were telling us we couldn’t go to store.
UCI: Damn, okay. And then, so it sounds like they kind of pretty much let, you know, and put you guys in another place and forgot about you guys right?
Caller: Yeah, basically, but like, you know, it’s like for two weeks, two to three weeks, and once our two weeks are over and we test negative, they brought us back, they brought us right back to the place we caught COVID, and it was still spreading.
UCI: Gotcha. And because I am guessing they pretty couldn’t catch you right on time when those that were already affected were infecting others right?
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: Gotcha. What about, like, what has it been like for you to have reduced visitation and programming?
Caller: There’s like no programming, basically. They let us go to the yard like once a week. I think, like, that’s how, it’s inconsistent though.
It’s very inconsistent and you know, it’s just a lot of stuff that’s lacking, you know. Oh yeah, it’s like a lot, you know, time that we’re supposed to get back. Like, you know, like how people get time for certain stuff taken off of their sentence.
UCI: Mm-hmm.
Caller: That’s getting held up because they’re saying they’re low staff and you know, they can’t like, you know, basically they’re like, I don’t know. It feels like they’re not taking it seriously. We should. I don’t know. It’s our time and they’re not taking it seriously.
UCI: Yeah, no, definitely. I feel you on that because, you know, they should be handling it a little better, you know, because that’s your guys’ right to, to know what’s going on with your case and all that. So yeah, I get you on that.
And like, what about the visitation? You know, how has the reduced visitation affected you?
Caller: Yeah, for surely it has. My wife has been trying to visit me for the whole time I’ve been up here and she can’t even get through when she calls Chino. If you go and call Chino, you could try tomorrow or the day after that, because they probably won’t answer right now, but they never answer.
My girl called back to back and, like, every department and they never answered. It’s like, it’s nearly impossible to get a visit. And saying that’s for me, like I’m all the way down here in LA and my wife, we live in Stockton all the way up north, so, like you can’t just drive down here and like, see, what’s like, you know?
UCI: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I know where Stockton’s at. That’s cool though. And so, yeah, you said that it’s hard for them to answer the call. So, I’m guessing other people that you know haven’t really gotten to visit or haven’t really gotten visitations either, right?
Caller: Oh, nobody in this dorm, ain’t nobody in this dorm got a visit.
UCI: Damn. I am sorry to hear that man. What about, so, how have you been coping with the crisis?
Caller: With the what?
UCI: With the, with the crisis, like everything that’s going on in your facility, how have you been coping with it? Like to keep your, to keep your mind busy.
Caller: What’s the stuff that I could do?
UCI: Mm-hmm.
Caller: It’s like basically work out, you know, and just get on this phone, call my wife, talk to my daughter and stuff, but it’s like watching TV, stuff like that. Even that working out shit is fucked up. Because like near, like, four days ago, somebody just like, bro, like literally died in here.
Bro, like he had passed out and, you know, he had stopped breathing. They were doing CPR for like over 15 minutes and he died. Like he died in front of all of us.
UCI: Damn. And I think one of another caller, calling in from Chino Hills, mentioned that too. So, I think you’re the second caller to confirm that. You know, to add on another question, what would you do to make the situation at your facility better?
Caller: What do I like, honestly, we just need, like, you know, for them to take us seriously, like, take everything serious, like start treating it, like, this is our lives, man. Like, we’re not getting the time that we earned, like all the milestone credits and all the time off that we deserve.
Like, you know, actually get on that. And, you know, we don’t, we don’t do nothing, bro. We don’t, we can’t. They don’t answer the phone for our visitation. They don’t, they don’t do anything, bro. And it’s just like, we just need somebody to actually notice what’s going on.
UCI: Mm-hmm.
Caller: We’re like to be like, be honest, bro. Like we’re all criminals in here and, like, that’s what we’re known as, and that’s what we feel like we’re known as. So we don’t have the ability or the structure to all come together and actually come up with a plan and like, you know, execute our plan to get what we want and what we need.
We like, it’s over a hundred people in here and we, like, you know, you know how it is, man? We’re, people can’t come together.
UCI: Yeah. Nah, I feel you, man. And, you know like, in reference to what you were saying, you know, that’s why we built up this hotline team, so you guys can tell us your stories. And we can be a voice for you guys and let the world hear how, you know, the prison system is treating you guys.
Because, you know, we know it’s hard out here, but we can only imagine what it’s like inside the prison walls. So, definitely, you know, that’s what we’re here for to help you guys out as much as we can.
Caller: Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate it, man.
UCI: It’s all good, man. And is there, what else do you want the people to know about your experience?
Caller: My experience in here it’s, you know, once you’re in here, like you’re in here, it’s not like a horrible, horrible – well, to me it is a horrible experience because I’m away from my daughter and I’m away from my wife and you know, my family. It’s like, I’m hurting them more than I’m even hurting myself.
UCI: Mm-hmm.
Caller: But being actually in prison, it’s like, I just turned 22 December, so I’m like the youngest dude in here. And it’s not what you think. It’s not, like, I’m on the like a lower-level yard. So that’s probably why it’s not like how people say it is. Like, it’s really not a place you would want to be.
It’s not a place where you want to go, but it’s not everybody in here are not like or like criminals and like killers and, you know, people have conscience in here and they have a good conscience, and they’re not all like, you know, they’re not all bad.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: People fucked up in life, and then you know [unintelligible], 20 years, 10 years on the first sentence, second sentence, bro, and it fucked him up. Yeah, bro. It’s man, all I, for my advice, don’t come in here, man. Just stay on the right path. Go to school, telling you, man. It’s not okay.
UCI: Gotcha, man. I hear you out man. And, you know, I just want to take this time to say thank you so much for your call and, you know, if you ever come across another story that you want to share with us, give us a call man.
We’re right here, Monday through Friday, five to nine. And then tell your friends about us too, man. We’re here to help you guys out.
Caller: All right. It’s good folks, good lookin.
UCI: All right. It’s all good, man. Appreciate it, man.
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: Yeah, all right.
