This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Lancaster.
Dear PrisonPandemic,
I have received your message, it took a bit because I got transferred to another prison. Thanks for reaching out to me, sometimes I feel like I don’t matter. I been through so much at this point, I’m just glad to hear from you. But here goes my ordeal.
On April 9, 2020, they removed my adrenal gland so I had surgery at San Joaquin County General Hospital. They have a contract with the CDCR. Now it was supposed to be a normal surgery laparoscopic, but someone dipped and cut the wrong vein so when they start removing the adrenal gland, I started to bleed out. I almost died. They worked on me for six hours. It was painful and I ended up with a 15 inch scar across my stomach.
Now by June I got really sick and they figured out my other adrenal gland didn’t work, so I was put on hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone, which makes the immune system weak. Now for the next nine months I was systematically exposed to COVID-19. I mean I was around people who were positive. I used to have to go to yard at the building where the COVID people were.
They use the COVID to take all our programs and visits for COVID, but yet fail to provide us with cleaning supplies to sanitize our cells. I have to clean with shampoo. I’ve seen a COVID positive person move from a cell and they put me in there without cleaning up.
I’m in prison for a crime I did not commit. I was convicted of driving a car which someone shot someone out of. Well being convicted by police misconduct, I kind of went mad and I committed crimes in here. I ended up with four life sentences for the attempted murder I didn’t do, and then for cell extracting which I got charged for assault with a deadly weapon. The one where you don’t even hurt no one. The weapon a thin aluminum pipe and the resisting I got life for each of these.
Now I should have been let go when they released all them people. I have been clean for five years and have rehabilitation certificates, but because I used to be a gang member they don’t believe it unless I snitch. They wont even consider me. But yeah, it sucks to have a medical condition, a serious one, and know if I catch COVID-19 I could die and I can’t even be kept safe from that COVID.
I have to do it myself. Well I’m not coping with this because I feel like Ima die in here. Well please write back. Ima spread the word so everyone writes you. Thanks.
Sincerely.
