This story was told by a person incarcerated at Solano.
UCI: And has COVID been handled differently at the beginning of the outbreak to now at your facility?
Caller: It seems like, you know, it seems like just the way – just like the way it was taken out there on the streets, as far as the administration and the higher levels, as far as like the prison.
You know? They didn’t take it too serious, it seemed like. You know? Even like how they did with San Quentin. They transferred some guys into San Quentin when they weren’t supposed to be doing any transfers. You know? And then, they sent some guys from Chino, where it was real bad, out to San Quentin. And, just like here, it was like four busses that came here when they weren’t supposed to be doing any transfers.
UCI: Oh, wow. That must have been scary to have busses come …
Caller: Yeah.
UCI: … from other places.
Caller: Yeah. And that’s the whole thing, especially, the one that happened at San Quentin, where the guys were really bad in Chino.
And, now, it seems like San Quentin has gotten bad now.
UCI: Yeah. That must be so hard. Because you have no control over that, obviously.
Caller: Yeah. It’s very scary. Because, you know, that’s something, you know, especially, in these situations, where our medical care is not that good, to where they could end our life. You know? So that’s the really scary part about it. You know? You’ve done all this time and you’re trying to go home. And here you are. Next thing you know, COVID-19 had took effect on you, you know, by no fault of your own.
UCI: Yeah. It must be hard to not have the power to kind of – you can do what you can, but not much else.
Caller: Yeah. That is true. I mean we do [unintelligible] in here, as far as the inmates go. We’re wearing our masks, you know, social distancing. You know? But, you know, that’s all we can do, as far as that goes – try to keep things clean around here.
UCI: And what do you think they could do at your facility to improve how they’re handling COVID?
Caller: I think, as far as getting our test results a lot sooner. That would help. You know? And then, I think the staff needs to practice what they preach, as far as social distancing and from theirselves. And then, also, wearing their mask. You know? Because they’re the main ones who are, you know, who can affect us by it.
Caller: So I think those two things are very important, as far as – because, you know, they’ll tell us social distancing. But, then, you’ll look at them – they’re in a big old huddle together. So I just think it would be better for them to practice what they preach, as far as that goes. Now, the tests, you know, I don’t mind the testing, really, because, you know, it’s for my own health. But it’s just to get your results back a lot quicker would be, you know, a lot better. Because it’s a lot of anxiety just waiting on the results. You know?
Because you don’t know, as far as how the COVID gets in the air. You could catch that at any minute.
