This story was told by a person incarcerated at New Folsom.
UCI: What would have made the situation at your facility better?
Caller: Staff getting vaccinated, pretty much.
UCI: The staff don’t get vaccinated?
Caller: No. They’re not forced to.
UCI: Wow. Do they at least wear their masks?
Caller: Yes, we, at least, yeah. We – we all, we all wear masks, but staff is not forced to get vaccinated, which is the problem. Because anytime there’s a COVID outbreak, that means the staff brought it in ’cause majority of the inmates we’re – we decided to get vaccinated. So probably you know 90 – 98 percent of the prison inmates is vaccinated.
We chose to get vaccinated. So you know, there’s a – you know, anytime a staff member catches it, the virus, we go on lockdown. So this is like our fourth lockdown right now.
UCI: How about your medical staff? How are they during this pandemic?
Caller: The – my – the medical care?
UCI: Yeah.
Caller: It’s mediocre. They don’t really know, you know. I mean, I mean, they don’t – there aren’t really any safeguards, to be honest with you.
UCI: Well, what else do you want people to know about, about your experience?
Caller: Survival of the fittest. Pretty much. That’s the best way I can serve it up. That’s the best way I can serve it up.
UCI: You feel like you’re surviving every day?
Caller: Yeah. Survival of the fittest. Yeah, pretty much.
UCI: Well. What’s a typical day during the pandemic like?
Caller: Huh?
UCI: What’s a typical day during this pandemic like for – for a prisoner like you?
Caller: Well, we, well, if there’s not a lockdown or anything, you know – you know, maybe go, you know – you know, go to the weight tower or something. You know, do some push-ups or something. Some pull-ups or something.
You know, it’s like the prison is not fully functioning, so we don’t have a lot of opportunities or resources to, you know, to make our time better, you know. A lot of programs aren’t running, you know. A lot of things are limited so, you know – you know, that’s pretty much a typical day, you know, we gotta make, you know, the best out of nothing pretty much.
