This story was told by a person incarcerated at San Joaquin County Jail.
Caller: But what concerned me the most and what I really feared was I was going to catch COVID, because while I was in this intake, the jail would just bring homeless people, people fresh off the street, straight from booking, and they would put them in my cell. And while they were sitting in this cell with me, they weren’t tested for COVID.
They were just put straight in the cell. And then they would move, and then another person would come straight from the streets from booking straight into my cell without being tested. And this was an ongoing process for months.
And I’m just like, “What the hell? Why am I being a part of this? I’m held in here with no bail. I can’t get out of here, and I’m stuck just dealing with them just throwing random people from the streets in my cell and just keep interchanging them out.”
I felt like a COVID test dummy, I mean straight up. And then, as we speak right now, I’ve been on a COVID-19 lockdown. Today is our 21st day of being locked in our cells.
We don’t come out except for every other day for showers, excluding Sundays. And we’ve been tested three times. Each time, the test results, we haven’t received. But presuming that our test results have been negative, we’re still on lockdown.
Today’s our 21st day. And that’s pretty much what I want to call and share with you guys. It sucks, you know? I haven’t seen my family in over a year. And, shit, COVID’s one hell of a thing going on.
