This story was told by a person incarcerated at Merced County Jail.
Caller: And so, to me, when they cuff you, they’re gonna touch your hands. They’re touching your hands, they’re doing this and that. They don’t even wipe them down with, like, some Lysol, like, bleach, like, you know, like, bacteria.
Cleaning the wipers, wipes or whatever. They’re just like you, putting them from one hand, from two wrists, to other two wrists. So, ain’t no telling how many wrists they went through by the time it gets to me again to go take my shower, where they have to handcuff me to take my shower.
Or handcuff me to go to yard. Because we get handcuffed when we leave our cell right here. To me, that’s not right.
To me, it’s like, whoa. And then I’m – but I’m an inmate, though. It’s either I want it or I don’t.
So, I can’t tell them, “Hey, excuse me. Can you please – can you please, for my safety, can you please wipe those cuffs down for me or something? Like can I see you wipe them to make sure they’re clean before you put them on me?”
“Do you want a shower or not?” And so, to me, it’s like, yeah, I need to shower, I’m gonna shower. I’ve been in here 24 hours. We shower every, every other day.
So, of course I’m gonna want to take a shower. I’m not gonna be in here stinky, like you know what I mean? So, I, you know, put my hands out and then there I go.
Against my rights, I’m being handcuffed to go take a shower, not knowing how many hands those handcuffs been on, been put on. So, those are just one of, that’s just one of the few things that are going on around here that I feel is not right. You know, with this pandemic.
Things you guys – I think those are good little things, you know, for your project that you have going on. I don’t know what your guys’ goal is, but, you know, thank you for listening to me. And even if, you know, you guys can’t make a difference in here too fast, but hopefully it makes a difference at some point to where things like this don’t happen again for other people. You know?
