This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Centinela.
To whom it may concern:
I wrote to you before. My family said I should write you even though I dont know if it will make any difference. But some new things have happened since I wrote last.
Wearing masks for inmates is mandatory like I think it is everywhere else. Even though it isnt for the correctional officers, and if it is nobody is regulating that, and they are the ones who will be bringing covid into the prison. I am threatened daily with disciplinary action if I dont wear my mask and I even saw a lieutenant threaten physical violence to someone for not wearing their mask properly. And there is no way in the world that I can tell a correctional officer to put their mask on right even though they are more likely to have covid than me.
Well they have been giving us cloth masks, which are fine, because they can be washed after yard and things like that. But now N95 masks are mandatory but they only give us one, and they cant be washed. So after my mask gets all sweaty, wet, and dirty from yard, I am forced to wear it again and again, while its old soiled and probably growing bacteria.
They also changed the way they have been feeding us. I know its illegal! Even if we are just inmates you cant feed us like that. The trays are made at least an hour before they are given to us. Sitting there at room temperature with fish, chicken, cheese, etc. on them Im sure growing bacteria. But nobody regulates this they do whatever they want, and get away with it!
This is all on top of not being able to see or talk to our families for almost a year because of no visits. Then they took more of our phone calls away for ÒcleaningÓ supposedly but they dont even clean the showers. I havent been given anything to clean my cell with since the start of this pandemic!
All this combined is cruel and unusual punishment. I want to file an appeal stating all of this, but Ive found that appealing to CDCR is useless because they are the ones inflicting the cruel and unusual punishment.
They want help, they just try to sweep it under rug. Also I fear retaliation. They will get me in trouble for other things and say it has nothing to do with the appeal, but what they do will be direct retaliation for an appeal. I fear what they will do if they read what I am writing you here. But Im sick of it!
People need to know what is happening at Centinela State Prison. Thank you for your time.
