This story was told by a person incarcerated at Mule Creek.
UCI: How have you been coping with the crisis, with everything that’s been going on?
Caller: Me? The sickness was hard because of the consistent moving without resting. And this is actually our second time having it, they didn’t report it the first time earlier this year, because they didn’t know what it was.
But, this is not our first time going—our first go around with it. This is the first time the institution, they finally admitted it.
So, we kind of were familiar with what was going on, considering what happened earlier around this time last year. So, it’s dealing with, it was easier to deal with because I knew what to expect, but it was just rough because the sickness is so hard on your body. And all you got was diarrhea medicine and cold packs and Pedialyte and Gatorade. It’s nowhere near solving anything. It calms symptoms down but, you’re sick.
UCI: I see. So, when you refer to the second round, is that, like, corona cases surging at your facility?
Caller: Yes. Because this time last year, you had, approximately four buildings were quarantined, and staff was calling in very sick, and the same symptoms, the muscle aches, the whole paper they give you, the whole symptoms they run to you.
I actually took a flu test and passed and tested negative for both strands, so we were trying to figure out what we had. And everybody figured it out later on. Administration was starting to admit it slowly but surely, that yeah, they believe it swept through here.
But then, there were no reports, the infectious disease nurse didn’t have any answers, and, yeah, we muscled through it before. So, everybody knew what it was the second time.
UCI: Oh?
Caller: Yeah, oh yeah.
UCI: So, these calls are only 15 minutes long in nature, and we just approached the 10-minute mark, so I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to let anyone, or let people know about anything else that’s been going on or any other things you want to mention or bring up?
Caller: Yes. Medical administration needs to really need be looked into in Mule Creek State Prison, and they falsified the numbers on the computer, it was almost double the amount every time they reported numbers as far as having people were, had contracted it. So they falsified the numbers.
UCI: I see. And, aside from that, is that all that you wanted to share for today, or is there anything else you’d like to highlight or bring up?
Caller: As far as today, they did, they sent all doctors to the gyms where people were housed and gave them blanket false stories of how you can and can’t test and the symptoms, and things of that nature, didn’t match up.
They said you couldn’t test positive for 90 days straight, but in fact, staff had to get two negatives within 10 to 14 days to come back to work, and they were able to do so, so we were trying to figure out how we were different from staff when we’re both humans. It was just a lot of lies.
UCI: I see. Okay so, the call is about to end soon, is there anything else you would want to share about your experience?
Caller: As far as my experience, I would like to let them know that most of the officers here did support us, and they did urge the appeal, but I expect—I really believe all the families should try and check with their loved ones and report it to the highest authority they can, inspector generals, state auditors, and so forth.
UCI: Thank you so much. And just one more time, just to make sure that I am able to capture your story, is there anything else you want us to know about your experience? If not, it’s totally okay, just so you know.
Caller: No, that’s pretty much it. It was just horrible. It was really horrible.
