This story was told by a family member of someone incarcerated at CIW (California Institution for Women).
UCI: Was your mom working at the facility prior to COVID? Was she taking any classes? And has that all stopped?
Caller: Yeah. They all have stopped. She was, actually, she’s been enrolled in college classes. And I believe she might be still like doing one of her classes, which is, I think. Hold on. Let me see. She sent me an email with the, I think it was like contemporary or something. Yeah, I’m not sure what class it was. But she’s taking one class and she’s able to like do writing and sending it, like in a letter, I guess.
UCI: Oh okay.
Caller: But the other classes that she has to like, I guess go in person, like go to her groups and all that, that stopped. And they’re like – it’s just not really letting them, it doesn’t make sense. Because it’s like if you don’t want them to be sick, you’re doing things, you know like, not letting them shower, keeping them confined and not letting them shower.
UCI: Yeah. Is she in her cell pretty much 24/7? Does she not have the ability to –
Caller: Yeah. Sometimes.
UCI: – go to recreational stuff anymore?
Caller: Yeah. Yeah. So, a lot of the times now they’re like closing down the yard constantly. You know? So, she’ll tell me like, ‘cause I’ll ask her cause sometimes, like she’ll call me, and she’ll sound very antsy, or kind of irritated, or irritable.
And I’m like, “Why are you feeling that way?” And she’s just like, “I don’t know. I just, I kind of just want to go outside, I need like, I guess I just need fresh air.” And I asked her, “Why don’t you go outside?” And she was, “Because they closed the yard down. I can’t go out whenever I want.”
UCI: Do you guys feel, do you, your family, and your mother feel as if these water conservation and closing of the yard are really sporadic or do you see it when there’s spikes in cases?
Caller: Honestly, I feel it may be, because there was a spike [unintelligible] recently, and we have a curfew now here in California.
UCI: Mmhmm.
Caller: So, because of that they told them that they were going to quarantine them. But then they didn’t. So it’s also like, it’s –
UCI: A little bit of both.
Caller: Yeah. So, it’s also like, they’re not really communicating well at all with anybody about anything.
