This story was told by a person incarcerated at Vacaville.
UCI: We’re just asking for, I mean, whatever you guys want to tell us, your experience with COVID and—
Caller: Like how, how it has affected us, if we ever caught it or anything because for reasons of them not, how do you say it them not making it more safe like safer.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: Oh, okay, ’cause I came from a different prison, right, I came from a different prison. Now I’m on crisis bed right now.
Pretty much I got COVID because they pretty much weren’t going about the, I don’t know exactly how to say it, though, but the way, the way they brought a bunch of people that were quarantined already with it, and they pretty much just threw them all out there and in the same group as us and let them interact with us. And then we ended up catching COVID, and I end up getting sick, and then I ended up going on suicide watch because it made me so much stressed out that I didn’t want to live no more because if they didn’t give a shit about our about our health and care why should I care, you know.
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: So this was at Wasco State Prison in March of, what was it.
UCI: Of this year?
Caller: No, of 19 when the pandemic just barely started.
UCI: Oh.
Caller: And I’m still going through quarantines and all that still ‘till this day, and it’s weird because they keep doing all these random rapid testing and all that, but, you know, none of us, none of us here got it, and they keep, they keep having the police they got this thing going.
The police right here, they got this thing where since this is the, since this is the pandemic or whatever it’s called they, they got two weeks, they get two weeks, they – not two weeks paid relief and days off and shit. And they get to call in even if they’re not sick or not, and they do that they can call in sick. I don’t know how to explain it, I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s a bunch of shit that be going on in here that’s weird.
UCI: Do you mean the – the guards and stuff are bringing it in?
Caller: Yeah, yeah they’re – they, they bring it in here, they bring it in here they, they go in and out, you know what I mean, and they bring it back and forth. And then they shut us down because they want to call in and say they’re sick because they want to get that two weeks free pay. They shut us down and then we don’t have no program or anything, you know, we’re just stuck in the room miserable for up to 30 days sometimes.
UCI: Wow, yeah that’s not good.
