This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Tracy.
These disproportionate general numbers are reflective of the pandemic’s effects on the minority population and the prison and courts targeting poor Blacks and minorities. Couple this with the inner working of the staff’s disdain for the Black inmates, along with inadequate cleaning supplies, PPEs, and packing inmates up like sardines makes it next to difficult to practice any type of social distancing.
What it’s been like to be inside during this time is extremely hard to articulate. Because it’s like a parallel universe where we are told one thing, but the staff are fighting against the administrator’s decision-making process.
How I feel about my safety during this time is intense by all these external factors, like cleaning supplies, PPEs, non-existent social distancing, Hispanic staff blatant disregard for Black inmates. My safety is so imperative that the more I project the concern, the more staff becomes dismissive of any effort to practice social distancing policies.
