May 3, 2020
Helpless. That is how I feel being incarcerated during this pandemic. I am helpless to support and protect my children, my family or my friends.
Furthermore, I am afraid that because of rampant negligence, I may not make it out to see all those people again should I get sick. I am helpless to protect my own life.
I am not provided the basic tools to protect my health. I’m given a sneeze guard that barely covers my mouth and nose and told I will get a charge if I wear a surgical mask given to me by my supervisor at work instead of the provided sneeze guard. I’m given two bars of soap the size of the complimentary ones you would find in a motel bathroom and told eo make them last a week. No hand sanitizer, no replacement sneeze guards on a regular basis, no deep cleaning of the housing units. The officers don’t wear their masks, wash their hands or wear gloves.
I feel that nobody cares.
The public hears statements that make it out like the DOC cares about our health and safety but in reality very few actually do. We are prisoners. We are being punished for crimes committed. We deserve what comes to us.
It’s easier for them to talk about action than to take action. I’m terrified that I’m not going to see my friends again because an officer was too lazy to wear gloves or wash their hands. I’m terrified that I’m not going to see my mother and father again because the officers supervisors were too lazy to enforce the guidelines put forth by Harold Clarke. I am terrified that I’ll never see my children again because Harold Clarke is turning a blind eye to the human beings he has been charged with protecting.
Harold Clarke said in a memo dated April 24, 2020, “please remain confident in the fact that your safety remains the utmost importance.”
Dave Robinson said in a memo dates March 27, 2020, “the health and safety of our staff and offenders during the coronavirus pandemic is paramount.”
No gentlemen, it is not.
How many of us have to get sick? How many of us have to die? How many families have to lose their fathers, their mothers, their sisters and brothers, their sons and daughters? What will it take before you care? Will it take you being charged with negligent homicide before you see that you are failing us? That you are failing my family? My friends?
You’re failing us all. And we are hopeless to do anything about it.
May 4, 2020
Since this pandemic started the Department of Corrections has told us that they are doing everything they can to protect prisoners’ health and safety by implementing various procedures designed to minimize the risk of infection from COVID-19. While these procedures and policies were designed to protect our health, the simple reality is that DOC policies have fallen short in delivery. I could speculate day and night about why the implementation is falling short, but at the end of the day the “why” isn’t important. People’s lives–human lives–are being endangered due to gross negligence that the DOC is exhibiting. That is what is truly important. My experience so far is that the policies put forth behind the coronavirus aren’t worth the paper they are printed on; they’re a political talking point. After all, if policy isn’t being executed in a manner that protects the nearly 40,000 human lives it is responsible for, then what is the point?
– No social distancing
While they are feeding us in the pods to reduce the risk of spreading the virus we have to form a line to get our trays because it was seen as too time consuming to lock us down and bring trays to each cell. Each floor in C4 has 74 inmates. C3 has 120. All just inches away from each other unable to maintain social distancing.
– No Deep Cleaning
The facility has only been “deep cleaned” one time since this began despite having an officer test positive and be hospitalized for COVID-19
– 2nd Floor Quarantine
On April 2, 8 inmates from 4 shops were moved from 2nd floor in C4 building in an effort to isolate the two buildings while keeping the VCE shops operational. On April 8 an inmate on the second floor expressed concerns he was getting sick. This initiated a quarantine of the second floor and resulted int he inmate and his cell partner being sent to isolation. As a result of this, the inmates that were move from 2nd floor to C3 weren’t allowed to work the next day. We were not told why, we were not quarantined, we were not asked how we were feeling, we did not have our temperatures checked. We were left in the ark until April 13 when we were told we could go back to work. For 5 days we heard only rumor and speculation about the potential COVID-19 infection on the floor we just moved from. Had the inmates contracted the virus we could have been exposed and potentially infected the 120 inmates in the C3 building. This is a prime example of the gross negligence that is occurring every day.
– Temperature Checks
Prior to April 20th there had been no regular temperature checks done. Even now the only checks being done are on workers leaving the buildings to work in the shops. At no time since this all started has any staff member asked any inmate who does have a job and/or is restricted to eh housing unit how they are feeling or taken their temperature. By April 27 they had stopped documenting the checks of workers because VCE supervisors had started demanding answers as to why are temperature readings were regularly coming back as low as 78º and nothing was being done about it. Also, after documentation ended, when we would ask what our temps were (to this day they are still taking temps, just not documenting them) the officers would respond with “you’re clear” or “I already cleared it” and make us keep moving.
– Sneeze Guards
Sneeze guards were passed out the week of March 23 but their use was not made mandatory until April 21. The officers often wear their mask around their neck if they wear it at all. Several officers have been seen having to dig it out of their pockets or retrieve it from the booth. Those of us who work in the shops have access to surgical masks which cover our faces more completely than the state issued sneeze guards. The state issued ones barely cover our nose and mouth and it is difficult to breath through making it hard to work in. The major issued a memo on May 1st stating she would start writing charges to anyone wearing an unauthorized face covering to include any masks other than the sneeze guards issued to us.
– Bar and Window Checks
As of April 25 the officers are coming around 4 to 6 at a time to ensure that the bars and windows in our cells haven’t been tampered with in an attempt to escape. Prior to this a crew of no less than 10 would come around every weekend to do this. These officers would go around the entire facility potentially spreading the virus between the buildings and floors should they have it. May 3 there were 8 officer sand I was told by a rookie that they are still going floor to floor, building to building. Think about this! The officers are going in every cell on the entire compound wearing the same gloves touching various things in our cell every week.
– Improper Hygiene
I don’t know if it’s a lack of empathy or training, but the officers aren’t washing their hands, changing their gloves, or wearing their sneeze guars as the department would have you believe. I, along with other inmates, have watched officers in the booth swear the same gloves while typing on the computer, writing in log books, touching their face, opening cell doors, and so on. All while touching their face, sneezing, coughing, etc., etc. When you asked them to change their gloves they claim the don’t have enough to change them after every task.