You have to go case by case to determine the beginning of the madness behind these walls. For some, there is no end. PnP didn’t help any. And how “they” are handling it here is not making things any better. Before you judge or I go any further, rest assure that these words are coming from an intelligent and open minded individual who does his best to look at all angles. I am speaking from what i see in the prison I’m in but may also have the likes of someone else in another prison. #PnP
Like the free world, a lot of activities from schooling to sports to work to recovery services have been suspended. Thus regular routine has been altered. #PnP
Personally:
Its scary. Other than rumors, we don’t know anything that is truly going on related to PnP. At first they had a few dormitories for those showing signs of the virus to quarantine. Don’t know if they actually test for the virus here. Now?, one of the dorms is used for new inmates, from an outside facility, who are not even supposed to be here because of their security level. Don’t know if these new inmates carried the virus with them. #PnP
In my dorm, a few inmates still have jobs. A couple of civilian workers had the virus and those inmates who worked for the civilian were put on quarantine inside their cell yet still in the same dorm. Those inmates were allowed to come out their cell three times a day. Most, NOT ALL, other inmates were locked down while supposed-to-be quarantined inmates were out to shower or use the phone or kiosk machine or cook food in the microwave. “Most” things were sanitized after those inmates used them. BUT, those inmates interracted with inmates who were not locked down, thus might’ve spread the virus. Even worst, once, those quarantined inmates were MISTAKENLY let off quarantine days early. The inmates knew they were being let off early but didn’t care because of just wanting to be out there cell. So they were out roaming and interacting with others for at least 2hrs until medical staff realized they made a “mistake” and put them back on quarantine. But by then, the damage was done.. smh #PnP
Staff rotation is horrible. A nice portion of staff roam freely throughout the prison, in and it of quarantine areas, and in and out of the prison daily. No difference for staff who even had tested positive for corona. I understand being allowed to come back to work, but if nobody else, those have once tested positve should have a designated work area daily and not change daily like they do. #PnP
Social distancing is almost non existence when it comes to eating. Keeping in mind that a lot of inmates like myself have to go to the dining hall to eat because we can’t afford financially not to. When things started, you would only eat with your dorm and the dining all would be “somewhat” sanitized in between other dorms entering and leaving the dining hall. This technique no longer exist and didnt last long. They hardly sanitize in between any more and that is because now you have 2-3 dormorties of inmates passing thru the dinning hall at a time. That’s anywhere from 150-800 possible inmates avoiding social distancing because they have to eat. #PnP
Then the food; What used to be 3 meals a day is now cut down to 2.; A brunch (that is not brunch) and dinner. The brunch is usually a regular breakfast or lunch meal with an extra side dish or extra burger/patty and does not compensate for other meal that we no longer get. Even the officers here know its under proportion but they have no control over the food, so they say, because the food is run by the company Armark. And even though officers know the food being served is under proportion, they still regulate how much we can bring back to our dormorties. Let’s say they give us 4 slices of bread, but someone else gives you 2 slices they don’t want, they will only let us bring back those 4 slices and none extra as if 2 extra slices of bread is a serious offense. smh. #PnP
Worst of all, it seems we have no one to turn to help us. #PnP
The psychological effect from all this is unexplainable. Like, I can’t even put into words. Other than its not healthy and people are running out of ways to stay sane. No one tells us anything other than what we see on the news; which doesn’t speak much about us in general nor specifically as to what’s going on in this/each prison. #PnP
Living in fear daily because if it hits hard here, we have no place to go to truly isolate/quarantine. Before the pandemic, the healthcare system,like most departments here, already did less opposed to the most. Anxiety levels have increased in all aspects; the risk of catching the virus; not knowing how unstable the pandemic has made someone else, you now how to be more cautious/aware of inmates and staff. #PnP
I am grateful for certain companies like jpay who have given us a few of their services for free; gtl has given us 2 free 5-minute phones per week.; a company, I believe Access, has given us a hygiene care package twice now. Grateful, not saying they can’t do more. #PnP
Not saying we deserve a stimulus package. Not saying we don’t. But I don’t see anything the prison system is doing to help us out. Our system’s motto is “Rehabilitation and Corrections”. They were already doing a poor job of that. You honestly have to be strong enough to Rehabilitate and Correct yourself. But with stopping all the programs and activities, this prison has not offered any alternatives during the PnP; thus eliminating more of the little self rehab and correcting options we had. What could they do you ask? Extend our phone time. Currently 7am-9pm. Why not a little later or earlier. at least on the weekends, Let us stream movies/ music for free, at least on the weekends. Figure out something with the library to let us still loan books out. Raise our state pay( which needed to be raised prior to PnP) talk2us Something! #PnP Part1
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Ali Jabbaar
DOC #623086