This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Soledad.
In early March, the prison went to a modified program. During this program, we were allowed yard everyday, which shifted to every four days. The original yard schedule allowed three to four wings on the yard together. When we shifted to yard every four days, only your wing could be out.
This was done to allow for contact tracing if need be. Only critical workers were allowed to work. All your boss has to do is make a request for you to be a critical worker.
Visiting was instantly shut down at the start of the modified program. At first, I thought, it won’t be too bad in a month or two we will be back to normal. From March to August, there were no positive cases here at CTF. In early August, there was a mild outbreak. The institution was able to isolate the positive cases to one wing.
We were provided masks in early April, so that helped. We had a mask that was double layered. As long as you had a face covering, it was deemed ok. This also goes for the staff.
Throughout the pandemic there has been no social distancing. The staff at times could be seen with the face covering down in a group joking around. It is impossible for us incarcerated people to social distance. We do not have equal access to cleaning supplies.
With the mild outbreak in August, the institution went further and shut down the yard and the critical workers. I did not have a cellmate at that time and I had a hard time. Prior to the shutdown, I was considered a critical worker. I was going to work on an average basis.
While I was in my cell, I wouldn’t talk to nobody for two to three days at a time. I struggled with my thoughts. I noticed that I felt lonely. I also noticed that I was having irrational thoughts, regarding my criminality. I realized what I was doing and contacted a friend of mine in my wing that was able to help me work through my problems.
I was able to go back to work within three weeks. In the first week of November, there was a massive outbreak. There were 80 cases the first week. By week two, it was well over 300 positive cases. Up until this time I felt comfortable with my health. Overnight, I started to panic. We went back to no movement.
I did not leave my cell unless it was for a shower. I did not accept a food tray. In the beginning of the outbreak, the same food trays were being used for the positive and negative population.
Prior to the outbreaks, I thought the preventable measures were good. But the staff became reckless. One layered mask became normal. Wearing the same gloves and touching everything became normal. At times, I felt like staff blamed us for this outbreak. While, I believe staff became reckless, we had nowhere to go, we couldn’t social distance.
