This story was told by a person incarcerated at SATF (California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison).
Like I said my only way to cope has been with prayer to God, exercising to release stress, and drawing, reading, and writing to spend time productively. To deal with this confinement, I also have been watching a lot of TV and playing video games in my table.
I have run out of food so sometimes I go hungry. My only way of making some money was by selling cards and my artworks or portraits. Now I cannot expose it in the dayroom because we either don’t have any dayroom or we are only there for one hour.
These times are tough being in a little cell for 23 to 24 hours with another man who, for the most part, likes to argue and fight with other men. I have to find many ways to protect myself and even battle with my own self because any smell, sound, look, or even taste can trigger bad emotions or thoughts, which may lead to violence. So I have to be very humble and educate myself in order for me to not fall victim of others or myself.
This COVID pandemic, combined with my incarceration, have been the toughest months in my prison term. Everyone here complains and talk to one another but there is no one who listens to us. We only have to become strong and patient until the day we go home.
I feel sorry for those who I knew and fell victims of this deadly virus. I am lucky enough to still be alive. Only still growing concern with the new strains of this virus which, slowly but surely, are creeping up into our counties and very soon will be in our prisons to make matters worse.
My only hope strength and prayer is to God. His is my fate and future while I am still alive.
