This story was told by a family member of someone incarcerated at CIW (California Institution for Women).
Caller: Yes, I have a mother incarcerated and-
UCI: Okay. What facility is she at?
Caller: She is in Corona- I mean California Institution for Women.
UCI: Oh, perfect. Okay. So tell me your story. So, how long has she been there?
Caller: So, I have been visiting her for about, I would say, 20 years, more or less, since I was little. And, you know, everything has been fine with visiting. And, you know, up until coronavirus we had a SHU visit scheduled, me and my family members, I have a brother.
UCI: When was that scheduled for? Can I ask what relative month that was scheduled for?
Caller: Yeah. It was, I believe, April 8th.
UCI: Okay, okay.
Caller: Or I think it was March 8th. I’m not sure. It was either one of those two months.
UCI: It was early on.
Caller: Yeah. Basically, it was right before coronavirus started like shutting everything down and, I guess – I mean, it was like right after. So, right after the coronavirus started shutting everything down. I guess they said we couldn’t, you know, go to the SHU visit and we had ordered food like a whole box.
And you know, you have to order it by a certain date. And we had ordered it by that certain date. And because of coronavirus they didn’t, you know, we didn’t get that box. We still haven’t had word on that box, and we spent like, I’m not, I don’t really remember how much we spent but it was a lot of money. It was like in the hundreds, like a couple hundred at least. And we never got anything like, you know, no like, money back or nothing for that box.
And I don’t know if they’re putting it on hold, but I don’t know when the next time I’m going to see her ‘cause I haven’t seen her since then. And I haven’t even been able to see her like in person, which really sucks.
UCI: Absolutely. Oh, continue. Yeah.
Caller: Also, there was, she was able, we just had a lot more communication when we were able to visit, and now we don’t.
