This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Soledad.
January 7, 2021
I am living in a dorm at the Correctional Training Facility-South. All the inmates here are considered non-violent by the CDCR. Life-term inmates have had their violence designations removed having met a long list of expectational criterion by CDCR. We are a level one security prison.
We have been locked up in our dorms for almost a year. We are only allowed out to the exercise yard for one hour per day. Sometimes, for days on end, we’re not allowed outside at all. This has caused inmates to start exercising inside the dorms. The dorms have effectively been turned into gymnasiums during this pandemic.
Our library is rarely open, and legal work has become increasingly difficult.
We are having a real problem seeing our correctional counselors to address issues. Counselors open line is during yard time once per week. However, if the designated open line for the counselor falls on a day that the yard is closed, an inmate could be waiting for many weeks to see their counselor.
Much of these restrictions are being based on staff shortages. However, we are a low-level security prison, that should not require so much staffing that the exercise yard is closed. The staffing is primarily an issue with safety of inmates, but forcing inmates to exercise inside the dorms puts everyone at high risk during this pandemic. Staff shortages is an excuse that allows staff to just take a day off. We are just livestock.
Sincerely.
