This story was told by a person incarcerated at Corcoran.
UCI: What facility are you currently housed?
Caller: One more time.
UCI: Which facility are you currently housed at?
Caller: This is Corcoran.
UCI: Okay. And what has the COVID situation been like there? You can elaborate from our conversation earlier.
Caller: Well, as I said, I lost my sense of smell and I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t taste my food and I went and smelled my [unintelligible] that I knew something was terribly wrong and I was having like, like mind delusions and I was hot-cold. So, however, they came and got me the very next day and took me over here to where they, so-called, have a quarantine unit, nevertheless they still got inmates passing out food trays and everything else with COVID and people in the cells with COVID, so just so you know that.
Caller: And not just that, the guys that tested positive with me on the day-to-day, the tests came back positive for COVID, they received their notifications as soon as possible and I had to jump through hoops to get a copy of mine and you know. So it’s just, you know as I say, it’s ongoing, you know, the only treatment they did was take our blood pressure and temperature and all that, you know.
Caller: And did nothing for my chest pain and really can’t do nothing for my mood swings. It’s affecting my thinking ability and things of that nature so it’s just, I thought by now that it would get better because I tested positive in January but it’s – I’m still where I was at from day one. So, I filed, I filed an appeal, I made an appeal against medical and then I flied on against staff for failing to protect me from this deadly disease that they introduced me to.
Caller: Go to the 7-Eleven and then they get a slurpy and I caught it and they can I say I might of caught it like that. Any form or fashion I could help you or the next person or be a voice for the voices then as I say, I don’t mind doing so. And as I say, it’s just sad that these people inflict us with this type of treatment and then they look at us like we the ones that bringing it in here. They treat us like second class citizens and all that, like I say, we are the ones that are sitting ducks, they at strip clubs and brothels and lord knows where else, you know.
And then like I say I didn’t come to prison with valley fever, I also was exposed to valley fever at CDCR and then on top of that I was exposed to COVID, I caught COVID due to the same negligence and disregard of my healthy and safety. And my health has deteriorated from the valley fever because now I need a respirator to breath when I go to sleep, I stop breathing. So, I know that my health is very poor, I’m 51-years-old and I’m a lifer so they’re not taking initiative to protect me. They ain’t gonna take the initiative to accidentally make a mistake and release me with a life without a possibility of parole sentence, so why would they violate their duty of oath to protect me?
Caller: And by any means, but if they got to use daily force or anything else, they’re supposed to protect me at all costs and they failed to do that mission, me and others.
UCI: So, with all that into account, as vaccines have become available have they been vaccinating you guys? Like how has the situation been like that, up there?
Caller: Well, I have to vote for the shots, but I believe to it was too little, too late because as I say I was already high-risk for my blood cells being low and you know, me having a respirator to go to sleep at night so I think that maybe I should have been isolated or been the first one to get the shot. What they did was they vaccinated the volunteer people first, that they say never been exposed to it. So it was like the Titanic, the first-class citizens on the top deck and the lower class on the bottom deck, that’s just what it felt like.
You know, because before, by me having valley fever, so it’s just sad and like I say, I talked to one of the mental health doctors via video and he go “Ok, well you guys just make sure you use hand sanitizer” and I say, “What hand sanitizer?”, “Oh their not-,” “No they’re not,” I said “Listen, we are not issued any hand sanitizer.”
UCI: Wow.
Caller: So, but he was like blew away by that. But I know that they got the public out there fooled and believing all that. You know, we almost got to beg them to change our masks and they talking about writing us up if we don’t wear a mask, but then they’re not wearing a mask. It’s sad but, you know, they got more love or something for their pets, a cat or dog or something then they got for us.
We’re just a number in here and at the end of the day they use – they divide and conquer and all these other things to keep people lost. So, I just appreciate that it matters to you and let the public know what’s going on, and if you gotta use my name I don’t even care. I’m just to the point to where, as I say, you know, they’re the ones being careless bringing this stuff in here. And like I said man, I really appreciate you accepting the call and wanting to listen to my story and any form or fashion, even in the future you need me to assist you in anything pertaining to this or anything else that I may be able to help you with, feel free to contact me.
UCI: Oh yeah, no, no problem. We really appreciate you for calling in and being able to tell us your story and we hope to let it be heard to the people. I also wanted to know what have you been doing personally to cope with this crisis? ‘Cause I know it’s a lot.
Caller: Well, let me tell you this first. I get family visits and the last time they visited was I got was in February of last year, this is causing a strain on my marriage, it’s causing a strain just dealing people in here. I’m dealing with hundreds of people but millions of personalities, each individual has 10 to 20 personalities a day depending on what the day is.
So, you know, sometimes it’s hard, and as I say, they always pushing and not giving, it’s to the point where it’s a real public health scare, we supposed to be on quarantine row, and they got inmates passing out trays and picking up trash and all this and all that. So, if that ain’t bizarre and cruel and unusual then I don’t know what is. So, they want to sit on their ass and sleep and everything else.
UCI: Right.
Caller: So, you know, it’s just crazy. I’m sure you probably haven’t heard anything like that, huh?
UCI: No, no.
Caller: Yeah, yeah and if they – and if they dispute it per their rules and regulations under Title 15, I would take a polygraph and I hope they agree to one. So that’s how you’d show the public that they sit here and lie. So, every institution got somebody that’s trained on-call seven days a week to administer a polygraph for me, him, and anybody else. So, I t’s just sad, well just so you know I’m litigated myself, I don’t really know the twists and turns on COVID release and all that, I’m sure that there’s people doing it and all that so I’m just trying to get in where I fit in can on type of class action, or personal suit, or whatever you know ‘cause as I say, this shouldn’t have happened, you know?
UCI: Yeah. So, what could you say that your facility could do to make the situation better in regards to COVID-19?
Caller: Well, I think they should be, I personally think they should be more cautious of their surroundings out there in the public because not only are they putting themselves in harm’s way they putting us in harm’s way, and the public in harms way by being careless. So, and then half of them got their cowboy mentality, they feel symptoms, that’s probably how we got sick, exposing us.
I really think they should treat need to be more humane and have more respect for themselves and to have respect for others by not exposing us to this or valley fever, or anything else that’s hazardous to our health because of course they didn’t sentence us for death, we ain’t on death row. So, you know, I just think that man and I want the public to know what’s going on in here.
