This letter was written by a person incarcerated at USP Atwater Federal Center.
Being in prison itself at any point is tough in itself, although I’m in prison for breaking the law so I have to roll with it. I will say that during the public crisis (pandemic) it has added much more unnecessary stress to the situation at hand. I haven’t seen loved ones for over two years now and with the financial situation my loved ones are in because of the workforce decline at the beginning of the pandemic puts a strain with me inside the institution. It’s not as bad as it was or at least I can say that maybe I’ve had to adapt to my surroundings, which is nothing new to me.
Prisons stayed on lockdown for months on end to begin with, but now it’s much more open, although we are required to wear a mask at all times (we are not in prison for following rules so you can imagine how hard it is to make sure all of the inmates are having their mask on and pulled up). As for myself I was in county jail waiting for court when all this COVID begin. Commissary stopped, the visits stopped, the barbers stopped coming and not long after that we went on lockdown which means we stayed in our jail cells 24/7 except to take a shower and we were single celled so it was difficult sometimes but I’ve managed to deal with it fairly easy.
