This story was told by a person incarcerated at Fresno County Jail.
UCI: Okay. So, before you tell me your story, did you say you have some questions?
Caller: What is your primary interest and your objective?
UCI: Okay. Well, what we are doing is we’re creating a digital archive to capture and preserve the stories of people who are incarcerated in California prisons, your family members and loved ones as well, and also employees sometimes.
Caller: And Why are you doing so? What is your purpose?
UCI: Well, we have two goals. We want people to bear witness to what people are experiencing inside of prisons during the pandemic. And we want to give you guys an opportunity to describe those experiences and for you to know that you know, people are listening are we’re aware.
Caller: Okay.
UCI: Secondly, we want to create greater transparency.
Caller: What kind of professor is Kristin Turney?
UCI: She’s a sociology professor.
Caller: A sociologist professor, in what category?
UCI: I’m not familiar, but she’s one of the professors that started the program.
Caller: Okay, so now, I’m done with the questions. Now what?
UCI: I have some questions for you if you feel like it would be easier to tell me what exactly you’ve been experiencing. So one of my first questions is which facility are you currently housed at?
Caller: Fresno, California. I have 26 years of incarceration in and out of different institutions and also mental health institutions as well at some point.
But, my experience as of now is that just two days ago, an inmate came up with the flu, so they removed him from the population and put him in isolation. Now we’re quarantined. There’s 45 to 50 of us in a tank the size of a Starbucks walk-in.
So, we’re concerned about the flu and concerned about our families. We can’t go to court right now. We are unable to get visits.
It’s the guards that bring in the pandemic. It’s them. Because when we’re here for a year or two, you know, and nobody gets sick and nobody enters, it’s obvious that if the flu does occur, it’s the result of a guard bringing it to us.
In some places, they’re calling it the invisible enemy because it’s something we can’t see. And it’s like, the natives, that’s what they call the, I think it was smallpox when they were being – I don’t know if you know the story of the native, but they called smallpox the invisible enemy. So, I think that’s where the term came from around here is because they brought it into the tribes, the Indian tribes.
That’s what’s happening now in jail or prison. It’s not the inmates who are bringing it. We’re catching it from the guards or from the employees or any worker that enters the facility. That’s how it’s spreading. You know. So, I think that’s why they quarantine the guards as well at some point.
But it’s a hardship for all of us. It’s a challenge. And we’re working through it. The guards are more loving, more kind here. It seems like Biden has said, because this is a new world, and I agree with this.
Because from my own experience, there’s no more brutality in prisons like it used to be. There’s no more anger or the status quo of the evil criminal. Everybody seems to be coming together and uniting in love, kindness, and peace. You know, empathy is our guide now. Love is our guide, it seems, to me.
I mean, we still have our moments of, you know, bedlam, if you will. It occurs every once in a while; however, it’s not as frequent as it used to be. People are turning to God for their support. Right now, we have a shortage of bibles. It’s very hard to get a bible right now as a result of volunteers that come into the facility and preach and give sermons and seminars.
That’s what we lack the most is the volunteers. Apparently, they’re afraid to spread the pandemic. I think that’s what it mostly is, their concern for spreading anything. Because, it stands to reason that people in jails or prisons aren’t the ones really spreading or getting the flu, you know. So, but as we speak, it seems like, as humans, I’d like to say that we’re humans first and were inmates second.
UCI: Of course.
Caller: That’s something that’s very important for people to know. As humans, first, we’re thinking about our community and our families more often now. We don’t get to see them because of the quarantine right now. And it’s a hardship.
People are very anxious and concerned because, you know, if somebody does get the flu and it does spread, most likely, someone’s going to die. We want to see our families before that happens. That’s our main concern. Our primary objective is having our loved ones around us if that’s indeed what’s going to take place.
We’re concerned about the future delta virus. Is that what it’s called?
UCI: I think it’s the delta variant.
Caller: Is that true that it’s called delta?
UCI: The delta variant.
Caller: What is that? That’s another pandemic?
UCI: I think it’s just another version of COVID that mutated.
Caller: So is it like a stronger?
UCI: Yeah, it’s supposed to be stronger.
Caller: What do you call it? A strain?
UCI: It’s a variant.
Caller: A variant? Oh. Well, I dropped out of school psychologically in the sixth grade, and in the ninth grade, I physically dropped out. However, I have a passion for reading and writing, so that’s how I educated myself through my own means.
Of course, the institutions have helped me by providing books. But one of the things that I encourage the community to do would be to come up with different ideas of how to support inmates who might die, you know, as a result of this pandemic. Maybe providing donated books or giving a list of people that they can write, like pen-pals. That would be the most, 90 – 100 percent of the inmates would like to have some type of pen-pal.
UCI: Well, I do believe our sister school is offering up a pen-pal program.
Caller: Who is?
UCI: Our sister school, UCLA.
Caller: What is it called? Sister Soul?
UCI: No. My university, this project is at UCI. So, our sister school is UCLA.
Caller: Oh, your sister school. It’s so hard to hear, so I’m mistaking your words for different words.
UCI: Oh, I’m sorry.
Caller: Maybe you can use words like college or something.
UCI: Okay. I’m sorry, yeah, so it’s more clear. Well, UCLA does have a pen-pal program, although I’m not 100 percent sure the type of availability they have. Let me see if I can find a little bit more-
Caller: Can I give you my name?
UCI: I would prefer if you would refrain, just for your own safety.
Caller: I’m not worried about safety. Like I said, the world’s changed, and I’m not worried about safety. What I’m concerned about is people who can contact me.
I would love to talk to a professor and challenge them on criminology. You know, I would love to do something like that. Anybody who’s studying criminology I can help because I’ve been a criminal, I’m 46 years old and I’ve been a criminal since I was 12 years old.
My first arrest was when I was 12 for stealing food. That’s sad. The officers who arrested me didn’t realize why I was stealing food. You know, they didn’t question that. They just thought I was a criminal and threw me into Juvenile Hall.
But my point is I want to give back to the community. I was in a coma and on life support. I was given a second chance at life. This is just recently. I had iodine poisoning, they called it. I had iodine before many times, with MRI and CAT scan machines, but this time it was a tainted batch, apparently. That’s what the doctor says. I had multiple organ failure as a result. Nine blood transfusions and I was in a coma and on life support.
I’m seeking aid for that too because, I mean you know, because it was a bad batch, you know, and it caused a lot of issues with me and my memory and stuff like that. And mental health issues.
