This story was told by a person incarcerated at California City.
Caller: See what I’m saying? Now, they just tell us again they’re about to shut program down again tonight, because the officer leaving. Here no help.
Why are we in a facility where you don’t have enough officers to run, to come to work and do their job, and you’re moving them to other places? They’re not the same officer. You’re leaving again. She said take our showers, and the program over with.
UCI: So, program, you mean phone time then in this case?
Caller: Phone time, program. You know, like right now other people supposed to come out right now, like one to 101 to 111. But now she told us, I’m a porter here, so, she just tell us right now, “Go ahead on, take your showers, make your phone calls, because at 7:00, the program is shut down.”
So, all the rest of the guys don’t get to come out. Nobody gets to come out. So, it’s over with for tonight ’til tomorrow.
UCI: Wow. Wow. I can’t imagine that. Well, do you – do you have to go?
Caller: No. I have to go in, within – I have about five, 10, 15, 20, 25 minutes because I’m a porter.
UCI: Okay. So, they shut down programs then just solely because a staff member isn’t there? Or they don’t – they simply really don’t have enough staff?
Caller: You know, we were shut down last night because one of our officers had to leave and go down to another building and run their program. What do that have to do with us because their officer went out to bring somebody to a medical? Like I’ve been – like I’ve been telling you, except S&Es in other California prisons, you’ve got a gang of S’s that take you out to the hospitals.