This story was told by a person incarcerated at Corcoran.
Caller: Well, I try to keep my loved ones uplifted. You know? I try to let them know not to worry, everything’s okay. I’m more concerned about them being out there in society. You know? But they’re in high spirits. You know? They’re not – as long as they continue to hear from me on the phone or I write them and let them know what’s going on, they trust that I’m going to protect myself.
And they’ll – you know, when they weren’t hearing from me for the first lockdown, they were calling the prison. And the prison was letting them know I wasn’t affected – everything was okay with me. So that made them feel a lot better. So they’re doing okay.
UCI: That’s good. I’m glad to hear that. And another question – what has it been like for you to have reduced visitation and programming?
Caller: Well, being that I’m a ex-SHU inmate and was in solitary for 20 years, not programming around here too much doesn’t bother me. I’m used to being confined in a cell. But not getting the visits – yeah – that’s a little discouraging. Because, you know, I waited years to hug my mother, hug my daughter, see my grand- now, I got grandkids I can’t hug yet. But it is a little discouraging. But, yet, still, when I hear that they’re okay – when I hear their voices and I hear that happiness that they’re feeling or I get a card from them or they get one from me, you know, it still kind of makes it feel a little bit better.
It’s tolerable, you know, a lot more tolerable. So I’m not too much worried. I’m hoping that, once this gets, you know, minimized as best it could, visits will come back. So that’s something to look forward to. Because they have been talking about it. But, you know, we’ll see – see how it goes.
