This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Folsom.
April 26, 2021
Hi, I received your letter today. It says here that you go to UCI. I would like to help you and answer some of the questions you may have about being locked up while the COVID-19 pandemic is going on.
Well, when COVID-19 first hit the prison, only a few people had it. But most of the prison workers was having the virus coming to work getting the prisoner sick. And that’s when the whole program stop.
First, it was, we get tested every week but things was still normal. Like going to the yard, walking to get your food from the cafeteria, and using the phones. But when people started to get it more and more like over half the prison, that’s when they shut the yard down and the phones.
Then people was still getting it so taking them to another building wasn’t working, it became full of people with COVID-19. That’s when everything stop and the prison made the news. They started to build tents on the yard and taking people to the woman’s prison that had COVID-19 and moved the women and put the sick men over there.
They was passing out new mask every week. Nurses and doctors would walk to your cell and check your temperature every day and people was still getting sick. Inmates and prison workers, they started to lock everybody down.
They would bring your food to your cell, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Only let a few people out at a time for shower and that went on for months. Now people is getting vaccinated and the prison is opening up.
Like get your food from the cafeteria, getting family visit, using the phone, no more tents on the yard with people full of COVID-19.