This story was told by a person incarcerated at Merced County Jail.
UCI: Wow. And because of this push, then, are they doing anything to help with being able to see your loved ones?
Caller: No. No, not at all. And I feel like, I know like the world has opened up, so I feel like we should be able to have visits, you know? But as of yet, like, we weren’t able to have family visits where our families come and stay with us, you know? I have young children and I would like to like remain in contact with them.
And, so, where I’m at is, it’s a long ride. So, for my family to come visit for, like, the day, is like, it’s not cost efficient. So, the only way I can see them is through the family visits, which is two – three days and two nights that we get to spend together.
UCI: So, what did the facility do as far as being able to have visitation right when the pandemic hit? And then, has it changed at all? Have they done anything differently? Kind of describe that to me.
Caller: So, when we, when the pandemic hit, they just – one day, we had visits, the next day, we didn’t. What they have done to – they’ve, like, put in video visits, but it doesn’t matter if your family was approved for in-person visits. They have to get re-approved for the video visit.
Which my children, my adult children, like, three months ago put in and I still haven’t heard anything about it. So, for them to get cleared, there’s a backlog because of all, everything that’s happening. And where I’m at, we’re continuously, the minute we think we’re going to get off lockdown, then a staff member comes and they have COVID. So, then we go back on lockdown for two weeks to make sure that nobody has it.