This story was told by a person incarcerated at Donovan.
Caller: I’m calling from Donovan State Penitentiary Echo Yard. I have already filed a habeas corpus petition months ago to ask for release due to COVID-19 pandemic. It was denied by the court in San Diego. The reasons it was denied have all now become moot at my prison. There is over 600-plus cases here of COVID-19. And there has been at least eight deaths. So, what I’m asking for is for the courts to do their job. There’s been a breakdown of the Guardian Ward Contract whereas individuals that work at CDCR make contracts with the state of California to be the guardians of wards, wards being inmates. We are not in a situation where our health is being protected. We are not in a situation where we are getting the proper amount of food. We are not in a situation where we are safe. This is a violation of the contract in three different directions.
I also wanted to let you guys know that they have our gymnasium on Echo Yard up and running to accept prisoners. It’s costing them $30,000 a day to maintain it. And no one’s in it. And it’s been up and running for over a week and a half. My submitted habeas corpus is [redacted]. That is it’s a case number. It met all the requirements that the court requested until they said it didn’t meet certain requirements. Those certain requirements were that there was no immediate threat to me on or my yard or on my prison, and that I was not in threat or danger. These are now moot points. Everything, and I’ve already sent a letter to the court back to the judge that denied me, explaining to that judge that it is now moot. But all of the things that he said, don’t apply any longer because there is COVID on my prison now, there have been deaths in my prison, and there continues to be death in cases of COVID-19, until being removed.
So, I am at odds of what to do at this point. I am going to send another letter to the court. And we will see what happens. But besides all that, CDCR is not doing its job in defending us, protecting us, or keeping us safe. They are failing in their contract of a guardian-ward relationship. And so they are in breach of contract. Um. Besides that, I didn’t really think I’d get through cuz I’ve called this number multiple times for weeks and never gotten through. It’s the first time it’s ever actually happened, but didn’t have everything I was prepared to tell you. I will call again later with more information. I don’t understand why I’m not putting my name here but fine. I won’t. It was Echo Yard, Donovan State Prison. I’m in building 24. 25 has cases. 23 has cases. 25 is in between both of those buildings. We don’t have any cases as of yet, but we have had concerns and had people removed under conditions they thought were COVID-19 related.
