Quarantine
(Day Three)

It's not even 6:30 in the morning, and they're coming around to find out who wants to take a shower. We all want to take a shower, but not at 6:30 in the morning, before we've gotten up and did anything to get sweaty, but for those who don't understand why they're doing it this way, the answer is simple. They know that, if they ask us if we want to take a shower first thing in the morning, most people are going to say "no," for the reasons I described a moment ago, which means they can go back and write a report saying that they offered everyone a shower, and then sit on their ass all day. What they don't know is that the joke's going to be on them today, though.

They brought breakfast over this morning. As usual, they brought our trays over, completely exposed to the elements, and then let them sit there for an hour before finally decided we needed to be fed, and as you might expect, by that time, it really wasn't even worth eating. There were hardly any scrambled eggs, and the eggs that were there were ice cold. Same thing with the oatmeal, which was congealed into a solid slab you could pick up and throw like a hockey puck. Just like yesterday, there were beans on the tray, but this time, there weren't any tortillas, corn, or flour. This time, there was a "sausage" link, which was definitely an improvement. I put mine to the side for later tonight, when I'll toss it into a hot pot, heat it up and then cut it up and add it to a soup for some much needed "flavor." Lunch included tow super thin slices of bologna, two slices of bread, a tiny bag of Goldfish crackers, some peanut butter crackers (which I'm allergic to), a pack of drink mix and an orange. Believe it or not, this is actually one of the "better" breakfasts and lunches in here.

After breakfast, they came around to take our temperatures. Once again, we're supposed to be on a quarantine, or isolation, to ensure that, if we are infected, we can't spread the virus to anyone, but once again, they let us all out of our cells at one time and then made us line up in the hallway, "nuts to butts," as the saying goes. Fortunately, we're smart enough to wear our masks without being told, so our only real threat is the officers who don't like to wear their masks.

Actually, today, was probably the most threatening day I experienced, in terms of trying to avoid exposure. A couple of hours after the mandatory temperature check, a bunch of medical personnel came over to test everyone for COVID-19. As it was explained to me, they're testing EVERYONE in this prison, and for good reason, too. Out of 435 current cases of COVID-19 throughout the entire prison system in California, this prison has 323 of them, with 6 already dead, and counting. (The number on their website is off by 1, because they're not including him, as he died 2 days after he was released from prison.) Anyway, I'm watching these people, medical "professionals," walk out of one building and into another, all without even bothering to change their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Sure enough, when they make it to my building, they're wearing the same equipment, and continue to do so, even as they establish an assembly line to shove magnum size q-tips up our snouts. They're touching our faces, turning this way and that to get the perfect angle, to keep us from moving away, after which time they pull out their slimy, cotton-tipped sticks and shove them into a container, that I can only hope is more sterile than their gloves, before beckoning to their next victim. After watching them in action, it's no wonder so many people in there have become, and continue to become, infected. The only thing that surprises me is that more people in here aren't dying.

Can you imagine an inmate having a cell phone in here right now? Using it to record some of the things that are being done? Officers refusing to wear their masks, nurses going from one patient to another without even attempting to change their PPE, recording how utterly impossible it is to practice social distancing in here, even if your life depended on it, which it quite literally does right now. I suppose this is why they don't want us having things like this, though, because of the very real danger they pose to exposing their corruption. Of course, as anyone who's been in prison who knows, you can get anything with enough money. I just don't happen to have $900 I can throw away on buying a cell phone. Still, it would be nice.

The officer just came by to pass out legal mail. He only had 4 pieces of mail for the entire building, one of which was a letter from the Governor of the State of California to me. I'd like to say this is because the Governor thought enough of me to inquire as to how I was doing, but alas, it was just his Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary, responding to my request for information. Like everyone else, I hear all sorts of rumors, but unlike everyone else, when I hear something, I like to go straight to the source for more information. With that said, I'd written to obtain more information on who the CDCR planned to release, and when, but this decision hadn't been made bt the Governor, as he led everyone to believe during his press conferences. It was made by the Secretary of the CDCR. His Press Secretary was kind enough to include a press release from the CDCR on this.

According to the press release, the CDCR planned to release around 3,500 inmates from prison, but only those with less than 60-days to serve, and no one who'd been convicted of a violent or sexually-based offense. After reading their plans, I couldn't help but wonder why, if someone was getting released in 60-days or less anyway, it would make any difference what they were charged with. In a situation like that, you can rest assured that they've already served a number of years so it's not as if they're getting away with anything by being released a few days early. Forcing them to stay in prison for a few more days, however, could result in a death sentence. I'm sure some will be pleased to hear that the State if forcing such people to serve out every day of their sentence, even if it means they lose their lives.

Believe it or not, this isn't as far fetched as it sounds. We've already had at least 5 people lie in here from COVID-19, and 1 person was released early, with COVID-19, where he died just 2 days later. As tragic as that was, as precious as life is, I'm sure he was grateful to have died in the free world, as opposed to behind bars. Dying in prison would be the ultimate punishment, especially because, if you come from poverty, you'd either be buried in a prison cemetery, or just as bad, cremated and scattered throughout the prison cemetery.