This story was told by a family member of someone incarcerated at CIW (California Institution for Women).
Caller: So pretty much, she was into prison. So, the first prison was, you know, that was like a whole different story but the most recent one that she has been in, the visitation was frequent. You know, I went from like seeing her very like rarely to, I don’t even know if that’s a word. I’m sorry.
UCI: That’s okay.
Caller: But I didn’t see her that often. But I started seeing her more, and more, and more, you know like because she was closer. She went to the California Institution for Women. And that’s like in Corona, or Chino.
UCI: Mmhmm
Caller: And like It’s closer to me, so I was able to visit her. And I was able to see her like probably three times a month, twice a month.
And it was like, it was good. They weren’t that strict. And I had those family visits, which is, I would spend like a whole weekend with her. And that was really fun because we got to be in the same house and for the first time like ever, that I could ever remember, like in my whole life, I got to like, you know be in a house with her, which is cool.
UCI: Mmhmm.
Caller: And, yeah. So, after that like you know, just, and you know, we like, we had phone calls, obviously, and letters. But when coronavirus happened like the phone calls, at the time, they put them like on lockdown.
And they weren’t able to really call for a couple of days. I think she wasn’t able to. And then she, they started like, I guess they started quarantining some of the inmates. And my mom had a roommate who had gotten sick, so they quarantined my mother and that roommate.
And so, I remember for that time I wasn’t able to talk to her. And that was kind of hard. But one thing is that they do have Jpay, which is like an app, I guess, where I can email her. But obviously like, our first service like really was bad. She would email me and then I would get it like hours later. Sometimes the next day.
I have to pay for every stamp that I use, like you know, it’s like I had to pay for like a little package deal. So, I have to pay to talk to her. And I have to pay for all the phone calls, which, when I was little I don’t remember doing that. But I don’t know. Maybe it’s because i was little.
UCI: That’s interesting. What have you heard? Is there, how I would say – so, how average weekly – yeah and how often do you talk to your mom? Like if you were to give an average ballpark of how often you’re able to speak to your mother over the phone or via email, how often do you think that would be per week?
Caller: So, through the phone I would say it’s like three times a week, and through emailing it’s like more of an everyday thing, kind of like once a day. Like one to two emails a day, ‘cause sometimes they are still slow. So you know, by the time I reply she can’t. And she has like controlled times when she can use it.
So, it’s the only way I can talk to her and stuff like that. But it just really sucks because I find that the hardest part is our relationship is more distant and it’s more disconnected because I can’t even get into a conversation with her.
