This story was told by a person incarcerated at Solano.
Caller: Now, over the course of the last six or seven months, here at Solano there was a particular prisoner who had did a VICE News video— an interview on VICE News. And tha-that video wind up going viral. Uh. I think last we heard something like maybe half a million hits.
And it was just being played everywhere. And so, that particular guy, uh, wound up being retaliated against by the prison administration for reporting at that time what they was portraying to be doing in the public eye but what was really happening in the system in terms of, they wasn’t receiving any face masks, there wasn’t no possibility of social distancing, there was no, uh, disinfectants or alcohol-based sanitizers, anything like that being provided. Yet, the CDC had put this public memo out saying that they was providing all of this stuff.
Now again, that memo came out of headquarters and by the time they reached locally…nothing. And so, uh, you know, here it is, you got this guy who blows the whistle. And he reaches out, he does this interview on VICE News.
And so here’s, here’s where, you know, dealing with the public, what they don’t understand about these, these, uh, uh, CDCR is, these officers function like gangs in potential. So, instead of the old days where they would, you know, push up the cop in the closet and beat the crap out of you, what they do, they go take 10-15 baskets together, and this particular guy was Black, then they turn around and tell you this, this or this, because with the Blacks the whole cells are being searched. Now, anybody who knows anything about prison politics, though, that is like one of the things that will get a race riot taking off quick.
UCI: Right.
Caller: And so, fortunately this particular guy was able to, uh, negate the situation because there was level heads involved. And they were able to resolve the situation without it resulting in violence. Yet, the fact that you had correctional staff who were attempting to cause this disruption of violence within the prison system because this guy had reported on the COVID thing and basically put the department on blast in terms of their deceptive, uh, uh, PR and stuff that they sellin’ to the public, is something that we see happening not only throughout California but around the nation where prisoners are taking that risk to say, “Hey, look, they’re telling you guys out there that they’re doing A, B and C to protect us but that’s not what’s happening.”
And the next thing you notice is that this person is getting transferred, he is getting going in the hole, he’s getting writeups, I mean, the whole nine. And, this is how the system works, sadly. And unfortunately, a lot of people out there, uh, they don’t know who the real crooks are. And so, when it comes to what uniforms a person wears, they see blue and they crumble. But the reality of this, the uniform has nothing to do with the mentality.
UCI: Right. Did you feel like it’s, uh, is it, is it widespread throughout California or is it, you know, unique to your situation at your facility or is it, is it, you know, is it a case-by-case basis in terms of the facility?
Caller: Well, I would say it’s a case-by-case basis due to the facility. Nevertheless, the brutality in retaliation is probably systematic systemwide, and I can, I can honestly say that, as a result of that guy’s video, it kinda made the officials here at Solano step they game up.
But now, here it is, you know, six, seven months later and, you know, maybe they don’t have control over the situation in terms of who’s coming into this joint, and what they are doing on the other end before they get you. But what they’re doing here, it appears that they are trying to take all reasonable steps at this prison to, uh, uh, safeguard the prisoner population as well as staff from the spread of the COVID-19.
