This story was told by a person incarcerated in Chino
UCI: Yeah definitely, and you mentioned the COs, what about them, have they been helping you guys, like you know, have they been handing out masks to you guys like every day, like a new nice fresh mask every day, giving you guys, like, gloves and sanitation stuff?
Caller: Not really. Like, it comes but it don’t come, it comes periodically out of nowhere. Since we been on lockdown, we probably only got the cleaning products out of a whole month, probably twice or three times. As far as them coming to bring N95 masks, they just started this three weeks ago and we’re already going into our second month on lockdown.
UCI: Mm-hmm.
Caller: I guess by people filing 602’s, getting their family members trying to get some outside network to come and see how these conditions is, ’cause they’re very bad and I mean very bad. It gets to the point where the water and everything gets cut off in here, now we can’t use the restroom, now we can’t get water to stay hydrated, ’cause some of these people is still positive. You got to be very hydrated, we don’t get all that.
UCI: Gotcha man. Mm-hmm. And so, I’m guessing they haven’t been providing, you know, the proper resources to you guys when you guys really need them huh?
Caller: Yeah, they don’t follow the, I think it’s the PPE.
UCI: Yeah, yeah.
Caller: Or the CDC guidelines for our social distancing. Like our building only supposed to have 100, 85 to 100 people, and we’re, we’re pushing the max set, 175 and almost every single bunk is two to three feet from each other with two people in it.
UCI: Gotcha.
Caller: We’re overpopulated for sure.
UCI: Mm-hmm.
Caller: Like I said, it’s hard for us to get home because they stopped all our programs that help us get days knocked off to be able to go home early. We can’t go home early, we can’t get no early kick, none of that because everything just stopped, it’s harder.
UCI: Gotcha man, yeah, yeah, yeah, no I feel you man. You know, it’s, I can only imagine what you guys are going through. And from everything that you’re telling me, you know, it sounds like they don’t really have the situation under control. It seems like they can be doing a lot better, and one last question for you man, what else do you want people to know about your experience?
Caller: That this experience is a once in a lifetime experience, and for future reference I am never coming back to prison. Because this experience during the pandemic, I don’t advise anybody out there to get in trouble in society, or not follow any rules out there. Be a law-abiding citizen, don’t get locked up during a pandemic inside a county jail or a prison.
It’s not the business right now, because it’s not cute, people are dying left and right, people are getting sick left and right, we’re not getting proper medical care, we’re not getting anything. Like right now, it seems like everybody forgot about us, so, my future answer to that is don’t come back, stay out of trouble.
UCI: Gotcha man, nice, thank you for that man. And, I mean, are there any last second thoughts, you know, about your COVID-19 situation, or anything else you want to let us know, before I let you go?
Caller: Yes, I just hope this prison can improve on the situation as far as the cleaning products, the game is to get home early, releasing the people for reduce population control.
