This story was told by a person incarcerated at Fresno County Jail.
UCI: Okay, so go ahead and tell me your story.
Caller: So, I’ve been here for about two years; I was actually here when the mumps have happened before the COVID. So, another disease that kind of broke out in the Fresno County Jail.
Now, it was kind of hard because a lot of the courts broke off, meaning that no one was able to go to court, they stopped visitations, they didn’t really know how to go about certain things. All they did was pretty much leave us under quarantine and pretty much try to separate us all, seeing what we can go ahead and do to cure this virus at first.
And after that, I was in here when the mumps happened. Now luckily for me, I actually got transferred from a lockdown facility to where it was just a two-man cell, and I dodged the quarantines for a little bit for about two months. I was still able to go to court. I was still able to go through my proceedings, but when they had put me back into an open dorm, that’s when I experienced how the quarantines work.
Now, for the last two years, or actually almost a year and a half now, I’ve already been through maybe 13 quarantines to where we don’t have any visitation. There’s no any type of movement like gym, staying proactive like going for haircuts, being able to go to sick hall, no doctor, no dental visits. The only thing what we pretty much do is just be in our pod with 71 other men, you know.
Now, from what I hear so far on the news, the majority of our people are doing their best to contact CDCR, CDC, prison to see, the people who are pretty much being sentenced or who’s already got sentenced, pretty much like I said, they’re out there right now filing petitions. They’re trying to do their best to contact the governor, trying to see what they can do to help us.
Because in reality, the cops right now, they’re not really trying to help. Some of them are pretty understanding, but like they say on the record, every single time, it’s above their pay grade, and they’re started to get annoyed as well.
Other than that, how we’re dealing with it is that we’re trying to stay clean. How we’re coping with it? We just live day by day. We’re pretty grateful that at least you know what I mean, no one’s not getting sick, there ain’t nobody dying in here. I’m actually just reading off your guys’ questions right now.
The vaccination? It sucks because a lot of people have already been vaccinated, like the day they get the one-shot, or they get the Johnson and Johnson shot meaning that they’re getting two, but yet people are still getting COVID positive.
So, but again, we are doing as best that we can to try to stay clean, trying to minimize the situation. Pretty much, we’re not taking any tests because when if we don’t take any tests, like the swabs, then we get off of quarantine faster and everything pretty much resumes. But we just got off last week, and five days later, we’re back on quarantine. As of right now, we’re on quarantine.
It just kind of sucks because we want to be able to see our loved ones. We, a lot of people are not able to use the phone to call their loved ones or anything like that. Before, they used to do their best, how do say, to give us free calls. They went ahead and took that away from us.
They went ahead and stated, “Oh, if you guys take the vaccine, we’ll offer you guys money.” But at the end of the day, why are we all doing this, and yet we’re still back on quarantine?
We try to give them ideas. When a new person comes into the facility, I guess they have this new thing called a rapid test to where when within 15 minutes, you could go ahead and determine if someone is either negative or positive. But yet they’re not throwing anyone into a lockdown pod, which is just a one-man cell, wait until their test results come back, and then throw them into an open pod.
What they’re doing is that they’re testing them, throwing them into an open-cell. And it jeopardizes us because they’re either COVID positive, and they could give it to an older man right here that has either a heart condition or that either has health issues. Or what they’re doing is they’re throwing them in here, and we’re not able to go to court or anything like that.
They take them out, and then we end up getting the end of the stick, you know? That’s just a little bit of my story and why I wanted to go ahead and share.
UCI: That’s awesome. We’re super grateful for that, you know. You said they’re not quarantining anybody new that comes in? So, are a majority of the people in your facility vaccinated and then just asymptomatic? Or how is that working?
Caller: So, a lot of us, well not me personally, I’ve already had gotten COVID. I should have stated that. I gotten COVID, and my attorney gotten COVID. They had thrown me into a COVID tank when there was actually a COVID tank.
They actually released 40 people the other, actually like 45 different people yesterday from one pod, and they’re now making that into a COVID tank.
So, but the thing about it is, the facilities are not trying to take any responsibility for these people who are sick. So, people who are less violent offenders, they’re pretty much releasing them because they don’t want to deal with them, you know. Then, later on, when all this pandemic clears, they’re pretty much stating that they’re going to get in trouble later on, and they’re going to come back. Hopefully, by then, the COVID is already ended, which we all know it’s not going to end for quite a while, you know?
But yes, you’re absolutely right. They’re bringing people in; they’re throwing them into this type of pod, and then as soon as it shows they’re positive or negative, I mean positive, they’ll come, get their stuff, and remove them. They’ll take them somewhere else to where they can self-quarantine for a little bit, but then again, you have people like us or certain people in this pod that are fully vaccinated, but we’re not able to do anything.
Me personally, I’m not saying I’m asymptomatic or anything like that, but I know I had caught it once. And so far, so great, I feel healthier than a horse. But there’s a lot of people in here that are possibly asymptomatic.
This is one thing that we were actually talking about earlier today in one of our meetings as a pod group that if, how do you say it, awh man, I’m sorry, I’m actually waking up. I barely got your guy’s letter right now. Bur we just had a meeting to see what we can do to be able to minimize the situation.
We told ourselves if we take the swab, then we’re all just going to be on a red tier thing to where it’s going to be a 30-day thing instead of a 14-day thing. So, all they’re doing is pretty much temperature checks. But even though they say 14 days we’re off, they exceed that. I’ve been in the quarantine tank to where it takes two months to get off. Then we’re not able to see no family members, we’re not able to go to court, people are not able to go get sentenced, and I don’t understand why.
But we’re doing the best that we can so that we can make their job easier. But when it comes down to it, we’re still getting the end of the stick, if you know what I’m talking about.
UCI: Absolutely. And you mentioned earlier on relating to the vaccine that they promised money? Tell me about that situation.
Caller: Yeah, so they put up a little sign on the TV as an announcement to where if you were to take the first shot, you get like a $25. If you were to take two shots, you get like an $83 packet, which comes with coffee, honey buns, chocolates, whatever.
A lot of times, people personally don’t want to take it because of their belief about it, or they’re not able to go on a computer and see what it contains inside. But then you’ve got a lot of people who are homeless, a lot of people who don’t get no money, and they’re getting this packet, and they’re taking the shot, getting this packet, but yet they’re still getting sick, or they’re still getting moved because they’re COVID positive.
But I hear sometimes that you can be asymptomatic, and you could still be a carrier. You might not show any symptoms, you might still seem to be healthy, but you could still pass it on to the next man over, you know? That’s what we were actually talking about earlier today.
But yeah, you’re absolutely right. They offer us money. The majority of us took it, but yet they’re still pulling us out, and those who actually took it are still getting sick.
UCI: That’s super interesting. And for all that they’re doing to promote you all to get vaccinated, do you see that big of a push with the staff?
Caller: So, staff members, to be honest, we all know it’s mandatory. Especially if you have a government job, you need to be fully vaccinated. If you’re not going to be fully vaccinated, you can’t work.
But a lot of times, us inmates, I’m not including myself, because you know, it doesn’t really bug me, but yeah, I would love to see my mom here and there. But I know for a fact that officers come off the streets, they come into work, and they’re starting to pass it around. You know, and they know that.
Some of the COs actually are COVID positive to where they have to self-quarantine. They come back to work believing everything’s okay, but yet they don’t know if they still have that as a carrier. They don’t know if they’re still carrying the COVID in them to where they’re still spreading it.
I know from what I hear from one of the corporals here, he stated that they’re going to try to get us into court online, but he doesn’t know if that’s even going to be anytime soon. He said that might be months from now. That might be till next year, to where everything’s going to be online.
They’ll keep us in a room, they have the jurors, and they have the clerks, they have our attorneys, the DA’s, and the judge from home because they’re starting to get COVID positive too.
UCI: Wow. That’s so interesting. And so you, programming hasn’t resumed then in any sort of way?
Caller: Not at all.
UCI: Not at all. Wow, that is so interesting. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of this with us. We really appreciate it. Is there any last bit of information that you would like our public to know?
Caller: One thing I do want them to understand is yes, we’re pretty much grateful for a lot of things that they’re willing to offer us inmates, you know. Say we’re under quarantine as of right now; one day equals three. Say that when people go to prison, and people are facing a very long time because of this pandemic, you know, they’re pretty much trying to do their best to be lenient towards it.
Because they’re not trying to slap a whole bunch of time, especially if there’s an elder or somebody like us who are facing a lot of time, they’re cutting that in half. They’re cutting it short for them.
So, I see certain things. Me and certain cops, we talk; they pretty much give us the good things about it, but yet they’re starting to get sick and tired about it too as well because they’re pretty much having to do double the work than normal.
Other than that, there’s nothing really much to share. I just got this flyer today. I’m very grateful that you guys were able to send this to me so I can be able to share a little bit of the inside of what’s going on.
UCI: Absolutely. Thank you so much for taking the time and if anyone else has any more information or wants to share their story, please pass along our information. Thank you so much.
Caller: I appreciate you guys. Thank you for doing what you’re doing.
UCI: Absolutely. Have a good night. Absolutely, thank you.
Caller: God bless you.
UCI: Bye-bye.
Caller: All right, bye.