This letter was written by a person incarcerated at San Quentin.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct, and this declaration was executed in October 2021.
On May 30, 2020, CDCR authorized the transfer of 120 plus inmates from California Institution for Men to San Quentin State Prison, due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at CIM. These inmates arrived at San Quentin the night of May 30, 2020, and were housed in south block.
A lot of the CIM inmates were emitting symptoms of COVID-19 prior to being transferred, and had notified correctional staff, but were ignored and transferred to San Quentin anyway. Within 72 hours, the inmates emitting symptoms of COVID-19 were tested, and confirmed to be positive with COVID-19.
As COVID-19 cases continued to rise in number, on June 10, 2020, myself and five other inmates were told that the lieutenant wanted us to move some boxes for him. While moving the inmate property that we came to discover it was, up to the fourth and fifth tier.
I asked whose property we were moving. Immediately he said it belonged to the inmates from CIM. I said we were being directly placed next to the infection. It became clear that we had been tricked into carrying possibly infected property the officers didn’t want to handle.
I don’t know if it was the handling of the CIM inmates property, or the officers I was around that didn’t wear their masks, but within a couple hours, I began to emit COVID-19 symptoms and feel sick. That same night, I experienced night sweats as well as body aches.
On April 11, 2020, I was COVID-19 tested because I was on the list of HFM trained workers. That afternoon I told an officer I didn’t well, and she told the pill call nurse who did a vitals screen and cleared me. On April 11, 2020, I was told I was COVID-19 positive. This means that I was possibly infecting people for four days as I served food and cleaned up.
I was isolated and only given vital checks in the AC for 26 days straight. The only medical advice I was offered was “drink plenty of water.”
My contracting of COVID-19 is due to the lack of caring and negligence on the part of CDCR and San Quentin officers and administration.
