This story was told by a family member of someone incarcerated at Chowchilla.
UCI: So, what facility is your loved one currently housed at?
Caller: My family member, my father, is at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California.
UCI: And so, what has the COVID situation been like for them?
Caller: The COVID situation for them was pretty hard in the beginning because all the programs and everything that they used to pass time closed down, along with visitation and everything. So, and aside from that, obviously, they weren’t following a lot of the procedures as far as, like, nothing was being sanitized and everything like that.
Vaccinations were not offered right away, but they coped pretty well with it overall. But it was just mainly everything closed out, and that affected them a lot.
UCI: And was the facility being responsible or as responsible as they possibly could have been, I guess?
Caller: Yeah. They weren’t being as responsible as they could’ve been, but eventually, that got a lot better.
UCI: Good. And so, how has that situation affected your family and you?
Caller: It affected us a lot because, well, number one, because visitation slowed down. We typically don’t get to visit him as often because of how far he is. But it affected just all forms of communication, such as calling in. So, every time that he would call us, it used to be kind of on a set day and set time.
And then after that, for a long period, they couldn’t call. And then when they could call, either, you know, they would have a lockdown. Someone would get in trouble, and then they wouldn’t be able to call for weeks.
There would be an outbreak; they couldn’t call again. So, we’d just think the worst and then-
UCI: Oh, man.
Caller: Yeah. Just we wouldn’t get to hear back from him. So, that was very worrisome in the beginning, at least when calls were just not coming in from him at all.
UCI: Were you able to write letters at all?
Caller: I was able to write letters. And the one thing that did help a lot was that JPay now does, it’s like emails. It’s kind of like instant messaging almost.
So, that did help a lot. And then, yeah, just now that the calls are, you know, almost back to normal, that helps a lot too.
UCI: How far along through the pandemic did it take for them to give you the option to use JPay?
Caller: Oh, man. I want to say maybe six months or more. I’m not exactly sure on that.
But I just saw so many different changes right away because my father has been incarcerated for over 15 years now. So, seeing all the changes happen so fast and it just was really worrisome on the family. And obviously, with everything going on, too, for everyone that’s not incarcerated.
UCI: Right, right. I’m sorry to hear that.
Caller: And everyone handled it very differently, you know, throughout the family, but the main thing is that at least we’re really grateful for JPay because it’s a lot quicker than mailing him. And then, we’re just really glad that at least we can get phone calls again.
UCI: And so, he never got sick?
Caller: He did not. He did not, but he got vaccinated as soon as he could. He did not get really sick.
UCI: Well, that’s good. From the vaccination.
Caller: Yes.
UCI: And so, as of right now, are the programs back up again? Or are they still in lockdown?
Caller: Some programs are up. I don’t think it’s 100 percent yet. But he’s already working again, which is great because everything basically closed down. From the jobs that they can have and just so many ways that they can pass time, everything completely shut down.
So, yeah, but he’s working again now, so much that he’s, you know, barely has time to do other things. And even for the call log, I guess there’s a certain time that everyone can call. And there’s a log that you have to sign up for to make these calls. But then, he’s even saying by the time he’s off work, it’s already filled up.
UCI: Wow.
Caller: But at least a lot of the programs are almost back to normal, even though it’s not like that at every facility, from what I hear.
UCI: That’s good. I’m glad he’s able to fill his time up and then get out and get busy again.
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: And how have you personally been coping with it?
Caller: The way I’ve been coping with it is mainly just, I really just make sure to always have money on my DCL account. And I always try and use JPay as often as I can. And then, family usually just writes in. But the best thing that I’ve done is just always make sure that, whenever is the most random time that he calls or anything like that, just to always make sure that I’m answering my phone and everything and always making sure I have money on my account, yeah.
UCI: And then also, just, what were you doing when you couldn’t speak to him? I mean, were there certain things that you were doing just to kind of deal with not being able to just, you know, just not wondering what was happening?
Caller: The only things I would do would be. I would just write. I would actually type a lot of letters, and then I would send them that way and then just get all my thoughts together within those weeks and just kind of bundle it all together. Because I know that, you know, I didn’t know how the restrictions were on: Could they receive mail? Was it being held?
And then, even if they received it, sometimes they couldn’t write back. Things like that. So, I just tried to bundle everything together. And then, every time I felt like I wanted to speak to him or know how he was doing, I would just keep adding on to, you know, one of my letters or word documents.
UCI: And why would they not be able to send letters back?
Caller: Well, because kind of when they were not able to receive calls and everything, I’m assuming that they also – just everything was just, I guess, taking so long to process. So, just everything was so delayed when it came to everything. Even when I would send letters, he wasn’t receiving them as quickly as he was before.
UCI: Okay. That makes sense. And what has it been like to have reduced visitation?
I mean, you said that you live far away. So, you didn’t have regular visitation. But even getting that little bit taken away, how’s that been?
Caller: I mean, well, the reduced visitation, I know, affected a lot of families with the in-person. But, for me, I guess what counts as reduced visitation really was the phone calls because that, to me, was just the main source of communication. You know, everyone has their jobs and just everything going on, and then all of us live so far from being able to visit him frequently. So, just missing those calls was just, I mean, just terrible.
You know, that’s the only way that we know he’s okay. Then, you know, do we have to order him new packages? Does he need anything? Is he doing okay? Is he missing something?
I mean, and I mean that’s the only way that he can get through to us, is kind of like, you’re due for a package, you’re overdue for a package. So, yeah, that was very, very hard on us.
UCI: Wow. Well, it sounds like it’s been opening up a little bit, and I’m glad that you’ve, you know, had those opportunities to get back in touch with him. And he’s vaccinated. So, hopefully, you’ll be able to get up there to see him sometime soon.
Caller: Yes, and I’m really excited as well to hear that they’re going to get tablets soon as well. So, I think that’ll be amazing that they can do video chats and everything like that. I guess they’re going to do, I think, one 30-minute video chat a month or something like that.
So, I think that’s going to help so many families that, you know, can’t travel, are sick, might get sick, or, you know, anything. Because everything is so limited that even making an appointment, I think it’s still limited to you might be turned away, you know, at the last minute.
UCI: Right, right. And it’ll just be easier to stay in contact without having to put people at risk in case, you know, you’re-
Caller: Yeah. And a lot of families don’t want to travel as well or things like that. And I think that’s just an amazing option that they have now – that they will have, yeah.
UCI: Yeah, that’s great. Is there anything else that you wanted to mention about your experience and your father’s experience during this time?
Caller: No. I want to say that everyone’s experience, I’m sure, varies. But I’m just really proud that my dad stayed really strong and kept his mind busy, kept reading, kept, you know, just occupying his time as best as he could.
And then, as a family, I think we were brought more together to see how we can help more and just, you know, talking about him, and just whenever – because everything was so reduced. When one of us would get a phone call, we would even three-way.
We would even get one phone, get the other phone, just anything that we could do so that, even our family in Mexico, when it was just hard for us to – either someone didn’t have money on their phones or whatever it was, we would just make it so that all of us are in one conversation with him. Because it was so limited, and it wasn’t as frequent, it was, you know, even a bigger deal for us.
UCI: Wow. That’s great. I mean, being able to reach across countries like that, you know what I mean, and get everybody-
Caller: Yeah, and within seconds because you have those 15 minutes that you have to make it happy.
UCI: Mmhmm. Jeez. That’s amazing.
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: Okay. Is there anything else that you wanted to mention?
Caller: No. That’s all.
UCI: Okay, great. Well, it is now 9:30. Thank you very much for participating in PrisonPandemic. And I’m going to end this call and this recording.
Caller: Thank you so much.
UCI: Yes. Have a great evening.
Caller: You too.
