This story was told by a person incarcerated at Solano.
Caller: I just asked, as of a couple of days ago, sit down talking to a brother who just got transferred in from another prison. And I asked, okay, “Hey man, the CDC has this policy, and they’re saying that they’re not doing, um, no transfers with the exception of like, you know, medical emergencies, R&R, county jail type of stuff.”
UCI: Yes.
Caller: So, I asked him, so I asked him, I said, “Hey, what’s your situation? Why was it that you and all these other brothers who come from CMC get transferred?” And speaking for himself he said, well, something about the elevation, his transfer had expired, but they put him on the bus anyways. Okay? I said, “When they put you in a bus, did they do a COVID test?” He said no.
“Did they isolate you?” “No.” “So, you’re telling me from the point of your departure to arriving at this prison at no point you tested for COVID. At no point was you, uh, isolated to determine whether or not you had any symptoms, anything like that?” He said, “Absolutely not. They put me on a bus, turned me loose on the yard.”
UCI: Wow. And so, they didn’t give him any tests prior to that, even before then, like, like days or a week before, or it just right before he was transferred?
Caller: Never been tested for COVID. So, I asked him, “Have you ever been transferred, I mean, ever been tested for COVID?” He said no. I said, “Have you ever contracted COVID?” He says, “Well, I had the symptoms.” And, you know, the stuff really messed me up. I lost my taste, you know, mouth taste.
UCI: Oh yeah.
Caller: Yeah. So, I was just like, “Wow, and then they put you on a bus without testing you?” So, I’m thinking like, okay, here we go again, San Quentin all over again.
