This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Orange County Central Men’s Jail.
As for me, ever since I had a flu like sickness in February/March of last year. I’ve gone through the last year with breathing problems and difficulty catching my breath. Over a year ago I was in bed with a fever, chills, muscle aches, lots of hacking from my lungs, and a loss of appetite. I lost 15 lbs in 10 days.
Those breathing problems made it difficult for me to breathe upon intake to the jail. My hands were cuffed behind my back for an extended period making my breathing even more labored. I don’t look unhealthy so it’s difficult to convey the distress I’m in to the deputy under these types of situations. I got light headed and finally laid on my side.
Also, in the series of holding tanks which were at or even over capacity, the air became stagnant after a few hours as the room filled with carbon dioxide. For me personally, laying on the floor with my face up against the floor threshold crack was the only way I could suck oxygen and keep myself from going into an oxygen deprivation panic.
Many people were already sleeping on the floor so it was not seen as unusual. After 18 hours crammed in cold hard concrete cells, you just want it to end.
Eventually that phase died. We were all put in quarantine units with a cellmate that came in with us. If we were lucky we’d get the 30 minutes a day to get a phone call and/or a shower. Most of the time it was 15-22 minutes out of the cell.
Quarantine seemed an awful lot like administrative segregation punishment. The restrictions really took their toll on me both physically and psychologically. Seemed like many people were on some sort of drug called “Subutex”. I didn’t want to take a drug to get through it, but if I have to do it again, I’ll reconsider.
Out of the 14 day quarantine, I was there 19 days. Most people slept to pass the time, but a psych-tech nurse would come around to wake them. I asked her, “For what? So they can stare at the walls?” After a week, she got me a Bible so I could have some reading material.
