This story was told by a person incarcerated at Santa Clara Main Jail.
UCI: Okay, and so could, do you want to just tell me like, what are the COVID situations been like? Like, how’s it going over there.
Caller: Well, this is the second time I just caught COVID about a month and a half ago and I was sick for three weeks, had to go to the hospital. I’m in a locked super-max lockdown facility. And there’s no way that we could have contracted the virus ourselves.
UCI: Right.
Caller: Deputies and the staff here are being irresponsible and not practicing personal protective equipment for Cal OSHA certification regulations to come in here when they come to work. You know, they don’t wash their hands regularly. They’re touching other units. They go to the medical unit and come back and don’t wear gloves when they pass out our food.
So, there’s absolutely no way we could have got it. I’m on the sixth floor of this facility. And there’s three units on this floor and we’re locked down. Our yard is indoors. There’s no way we could contract the virus.
But this is the second time I caught it. The first time I went to court. The first time I went to court and the cells were dirty, and I was in there for about five hours. When I came home I caught COVID, I caught a fever that night, had a fever for about seven days.
But this last one I caught, 15 of us got it within a three-day period. One of us died, one of them. One of my friends died.
UCI: Wow.
Caller: My neighbor who was a good friend of mine. He – he’s in a coma right now currently at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. He’s been in a coma for about eight weeks now.
UCI: I’m so sorry for that.
Caller: Me too. You know, they’ve been good friends of mine for a long time. My voice, my voice is gone. I don’t really talk that much. I can’t taste food anymore. And these people are sort of responsible.
We have to file grievances. We have an appeal process here. But if our grievances are denied or resolved and they are resolved for bogus issues, they want us to file an appeal. We follow the appeal.
We never get a copy back. They’re never heard. So, I mean, it’s pointless. But man, staff here is irresponsible. Very irresponsible.
We got the lieutenants and sergeants coming in here with no mask. And we’re currently in an HRS facility, which means we’re practicing six feet distances and that out for half hour group programs. But we’re only let out like two days a week. Last month we were only allowed to come out one day for that week.
We were not allowed to shower for six days. So, if you can imagine how that is for us in here.
UCI: Yeah. That’s terrible.
Caller: If you’ve ever seen the ASPCA commercials with real animals are shaking. If you took pictures of us, that’s how we were in here with COVID. And all they gave us was cough syrup and Tylenol. I was in the hospital because I couldn’t breathe properly, my lungs were collapsing.
And they put me in this little room for about five hours by myself. The doctors weren’t coming here and nothing, I was shackled both waist, ankles and wrists. And I was kind of bent in half and I couldn’t, I couldn’t even breathe properly.
I had a sign myself out of the emergency room for them to bring me back. So, I could just torture myself in the room and hope that I didn’t die of COVID.
UCi: That’s so terrible.
Caller: Yeah, the health practices here are not so good.
