This letter was written by a person incarcerated at High Desert.
PrisonPandemic program UC Irvine,
Hello. I’m a 40-year-old man serving 13 years. The COVID-19 pandemic has been quite the experience. I’m Christian, so faith in the supernatural God is something that I carry with me.
My year started in March 2020. At the early stages when the requirements were set in place. We got locked down. Segregated and our daily program was disrupted.
The staff here at the prison began handing out face masks, which I thought was odd because I didn’t have a television set to watch the daily news.
Later that month, my mother alerted me that my father-in-law had passed away. He actually passed away December 18th. But because I am in prison, my mom worries about my emotional composure. Sadly they thought it was the flu and claimed that the vaccine gave him a bad reaction.
We later found out that it was COVID-19. It was a tragedy, my 10 year old lost her grandad. On the surface she was handling it well, but I was devastated when I got the news.
So things were slowly building momentum. Our daily program was set on the COVID-19 regulations. We socially distanced ourselves, routine testing began going around. Then somehow the virus made it into the prison; we believe through either an infected officer or a transferred inmate from another prison.
So regular testing began, finding outbreaks in different areas. The facility has maybe six different yards: A, B, C, D, E, F, and I-unit, which is the ad-seg, or the hole. Medical staff had a very serious situation in their hands. It was a coronavirus outbreak in the High Desert State Prison.
I don’t know much of legal matters but we were exposed just through faulty ventilation systems. The mail here at the prison has a delay. So if we tested on Monday. We wouldn’t have results till a week later.
Also we were in isolation. Picture two people in a small cell. One gets infected but is asymptomatic so he doesn’t get quarantined on time, and it spreads like wildfires.
I was scared, my celly, an African-American named [redacted], was down for three days with a sore throat and flu-like symptoms. Well once I knew I was asymptomatic, I moved over to a new cell with another Mexican who had a very bad cough and was placed on an electric respirator. I mean the guy was dying, for lack of a better word.
I was scared. I was so afraid for that I lifted a medical grievance. I have a lot to talk about. I was impacted by this because he was forced to spend the night alone in a cell in the seven most critical days, coughing profusely. The whole dorm witnessed it.
I’m pursuing a grievance against CDCR for exposure to COVID-19 and accountability. The doctors worked around the clock but I witnessed a cover-up, all caught on film. And because I journal, I documented the officer purposely leaving his property behind.
I wish someone could help me legally. And perhaps alerting the media! I’ll be awaiting your response.
In Jesus name,
God bless you.
P.S.Remember Donald Trump took a trip to North Korea? How much after that visit was COVID-19 released in China? Something to think about.
