This story was told by a person incarcerated at Ventura County Main Jail.
UCI: Okay. How has this whole COVID situation affected your loved ones?
Caller: I don’t know if it’s like, I don’t really get visits here or anything. But I don’t really get visits but like I don’t know. I know that my mom, she kind of tripped out when I called her and told her. I was like, “I don’t know. I might have COVID. That might be why I’m in here in this little slammed down little tank, you know?”
And then she was like, I don’t know if she was just kind of sad or something. She’s like, “Oh, I hope not. I hope you’re okay.” She’s like, “Oh, that sucks”. But, I don’t know. Yeah, so, it kind of — somewhat affects them a little bit, I don’t know. But I don’t really get visits or anything so, yeah.
UCI: Okay. what about — what has it been like for you to have reduced programming?
Caller: Oh, it sucks. It sucks major, yeah. And then I’m just tripping out because like, we get a shower every other day. Like some days, we gotta come out for a shower and that’s it. And then they have the tablets like over here.
Like basically, the people that used to get in trouble for fighting — like the people that would fight — they have this place called the “hole.” And then that’s where they sent — they sent the people with the COVID. They put them in the place where the hole used to be — where the troublemakers used to go.
And so, they have us slammed down right here in the hole. But, which is kind of dumb. I don’t know why we’re — why we’re not in medical, you know? Like down in the medical tank. Yeah.
UCI: Oh, that’s actually something we hear commonly in these calls — that the places where it used to be for like punishment, it’s now for people to be quarantined.
Caller: So yeah. Yeah, that’s exactly where we’re at right now. It sucks. And then like, I’m tryna get them to let me come out so I can clean my cell because it’s fucking nasty — it’s so, sorry, excuse my language — it’s so nasty in here. Like, there’s so many — like, I don’t know.
It looks like someone had a food fight in here, but they won’t even give me no cleaner or nothing, I don’t know. But, I was trying like, get it all cleaned up. I’ve been in here for like three days and yeah, it sucks. Yup.
I’m waiting to find out. They said that they don’t have my results back yet. But, I’m pretty sure they do because why would they move us from like, you know? From like, the section. Why would they move us only if your results came back negative, you know? I mean positive.
