This letter was written by a person incarcerated at CMC (California Men’s Colony).
Hello story collector,
Nice form letter to elicit a response from the forgotten society.
People are not thinking about us inside. Only family thinks about us, and even then not all families care.
A story about how some of us inside are coping with this cootie-19 situation. Well I for one am royally pissed. When we, inside first started hearing about COVID-19, we understood it would hit us eventually because of its rapid spread.
Now I must tell you that I am not a politically correct person and that I can be quite sarcastic in my speech. I will, however, try to watch what I say because I would not want to bruise anyone’s liberalistic views.
On with the story.
Our first positive case of the cooties-19 were dealt with in a very lackadaisical way by the correctional officers here on F-facility at CMC west. On west, we reside in our dorms of up to 55 (more or less) persons. At that time (2-20), we inmates tried using our collective voices to get something done in order to protect ourselves. Didn’t work.
The powers that be decided to move persons from infected dorm to other dorms. Needless to say everyone on west wound up with cooties-19. I’m old and I got scared. Lots of old people dying because of COVID-19. Thankfully I am in good health and was able to fight it off.
You feel helpless in here. You have to rely on people that are just trying to collect paycheck and really don’t give a shit about you. Same goes for the medical staff. Lots of ’em have attitudes toward us and couldn’t care less about our welfare. They do their eight then hit the gate.
Sorry about my printing, I have problems.
As far as whats it been like in here? Let me explain just how stupid these so called correctional officers are.
During this COVID-19 bullshit, the powers that be decided we must maintain six feet away from everybody, but we live in dorms with our bunks three feet or less from each other. But still when we walk to our chow hall we must maintain three feet of space between each other. Doesn’t make any sense. Stupid COs!
Reduced visitation is actually a joke. Video talking is not visiting. We get more talking time on the phones than we do on our video visits.
Coping is different for everybody. Some chase hot drugs, some read, some do groups (the best option), some go to school which most need desperately. I myself used to draw but is no longer possible so now I do a bit of board review, which is part of my meditation routine. I have to survive and selling hobby work helps greatly.
That’s my abbreviated story. Not as detailed as I would’ve liked but only because I don’t like writing.
Thank you for your good thoughts and best wishes. They are sorely needed.
Sincerely.
