This story was told by a family member of someone incarcerated at Chowchilla.
UCI: And what has it been like to have reduced visitation?
I mean, you said that you live far away. So, you didn’t have regular visitation. But even getting that little bit taken away, how’s that been?
Caller: I mean, well, the reduced visitation, I know, affected a lot of families with the in-person. But, for me, I guess what counts as reduced visitation really was the phone calls because that, to me, was just the main source of communication. You know, everyone has their jobs and just everything going on, and then all of us live so far from being able to visit him frequently. So, just missing those calls was just, I mean, just terrible.
You know, that’s the only way that we know he’s okay. Then, you know, do we have to order him new packages? Does he need anything? Is he doing okay? Is he missing something?
I mean, and I mean that’s the only way that he can get through to us, is kind of like, you’re due for a package, you’re overdue for a package. So, yeah, that was very, very hard on us.
UCI: Wow. Well, it sounds like it’s been opening up a little bit, and I’m glad that you’ve, you know, had those opportunities to get back in touch with him. And he’s vaccinated. So, hopefully, you’ll be able to get up there to see him sometime soon.
Caller: Yes, and I’m really excited as well to hear that they’re going to get tablets soon as well. So, I think that’ll be amazing that they can do video chats and everything like that. I guess they’re going to do, I think, one 30-minute video chat a month or something like that.
So, I think that’s going to help so many families that, you know, can’t travel, are sick, might get sick, or, you know, anything. Because everything is so limited that even making an appointment, I think it’s still limited to you might be turned away, you know, at the last minute.
UCI: Right, right. And it’ll just be easier to stay in contact without having to put people at risk in case, you know, you’re-
Caller: Yeah. And a lot of families don’t want to travel as well or things like that. And I think that’s just an amazing option that they have now – that they will have, yeah.
