This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Pelican Bay.
Next thing you know, visits state wide are canceled and still remain so to date. Masks are passed out, staff and CO looks like they are grown up with face shields getting ready for surgery. All groups, religious services, etc. all out to a halt. It was honestly kind of scary. And segregation we were allowed two phone calls a month, due to no visits, as a way to stay in touch with our loved ones.
You have to wear your mask during the 15 minute phone call and the phone is disinfected before each use. Unprecedented doesn’t begin to describe it! On the news daily all the loss of life and sadness and the toll it has taken on our frontline workers. I am amazed at the resilience of our healthcare workers. They are angels on earth and true heroes. Then in September it looks like the worst is over.
They start to run groups and staff then in October, it gets really crazy. I am in a unit in a section with myself and four other people, that’s it! Normally that section house is 16 people! Four cells on the bottom tier, four cells on the top-tier, two inmates per cell. Two cells down from me a guy has COVID and is quarantined.
COVID-19 is here at Pelican Bay. And just like the wildfires we had around the prison, COVID-19 is moving just as fast. My whole unit was quarantined and I tested negative and luckily never got the virus.