This story was told by a person incarcerated at SATF (California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison).
Caller: Well right now, they’re barely starting to provide vaccines for those who, uh, wish to take ‘em. I personally signed a refusal. I don’t know, call me crazy, but I’m still like kind of skeptical. I know they’re still doing studies and more research on them, so I like wanted to hold back on that, you know?
UCI: Mhm.
Caller: One of the guys that did get a, take the vaccine, he had a seizure on the patio the, what was it, Saturday? Friday? So, I mean I know it’s not that common, but that made me actually think like “woah maybe that’s why I didn’t,” you know? Then again, I don’t know if it’s attributed to that and if it’s something else, but I heard he had just recently got the vaccine, you know?
UCI: Do you know how was COVID-19 handled at your facility at the beginning of the outbreak versus now?
Caller: Well, now there’s more, um, awareness you could say, proper ways to, hm, deal with situations and individuals in order to prevent COVID. Um, I first thought this thing, like anything, anyone on the street, in prison, people they don’t know the proper protocol, you could say. How to deal with it or prevent it, so, now that they do.
Like at first we had just basic one layer cloth mask, face mask. And now they pass out N95 masks, face masks. And things like that help for dealing with this.
A little more knowledgeable you could say, you know? Take the programs, we used to get yard everyday. Now it’s every other day, and only our building. So, they’re minimizing obviously the amount of people in one place at a particular time.
UCI: And is there anything that you think would make the situation at your facility better?
Caller: Make it better? I mean it’d be nice to get some visits, you know? From our family. From our friends. I know based on the condition, the situation, that might not be possible.
I mean we’re getting tested weekly for, uh, we’re getting COVID testing. At first they weren’t testing us. Matter of fact I even went through, I got quarantined once in another block, a different building, because I came in with one of the free staff, which was a physical therapist.
And I can show they think I had it, so they quarantined me just as precautionary, you know? Huh. But that was the beginning of the stage when they still didn’t know what they were doing obviously like they quarantined me and left my celly in the building, which I had been in my cell for about a week and a half or two weeks.
So he would have been exposed if that was the case. But I was the only one that was quarantined, so. It wasn’t as organized, or, you know?
UCI: Mhm.
Caller: But now they’re dealing with it a little better I guess you could say.
UCI: Yeah. Do you have any video visits at your facility?
Caller: Um, you know what? They just started ‘em not too long ago. I wanna say like around the holidays, maybe December or so? So yeah that is one option that has been provided recently, which is another plus, you know?
UCI: Yeah. How have you personally, what have you been doing to cope with the crisis? Or have you been coping with the crisis?
Caller: Man. I wanna say school more than any single- we’re not going physically, but the education department based off of so many people being in one place, you know? They have to find a new environment, but I’m doing college courses, matter of fact I just received my AA degree in Liberal Arts, Sociology. So I was able to complete that through correspondence courses, you know?
UCI: Oh! Congratulations!
Caller: Yeah, thank you. So that was an accomplishment that I was able to, you could say one of my coping mechanisms.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: I enjoy doing that and reading, studying, working out. It’s a good stress relief from being in cell living- I’m in cell living right here. So, I mean, it can be a bit difficult, you know?
UCI: Yeah. And how has the COVID-19 situation at your facility affected your loved ones?
Caller: I mean, man, it’s harder to stay in touch with loved ones. Visit them, see them. I have a little son, you know, it’s hard to explain to him that, like he understands, COVID and all that, but it’s hard to explain to him why he can’t see me or come visit, you know? So, it’s kind of a burden on them also. It just makes it more difficult to be in touch, just the letters, you know?
