With no visitation since the start of the pandemic and only sporadic communication through letters or other inmates, K. is receiving very little information about her incarcerated father. All she knows for sure is that he’s terrified of getting infected. “He is not leaving his cell,” she says, “not even to shower.”
At 892 active cases as of Dec. 22, the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad has the most infected inmates across the California state prison system.
Crowdedness is a factor known to help spread the coronavirus, and the number of inmates at CTF is at 29-percent above its official capacity, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prison officials are using gyms and a chapel to isolate the sick, and have also erected tents in the yard.
K., who spoke to the Weekly on the condition of anonymity because she worries about potential retribution against her father, attended a protest outside the CTF on Dec. 19 calling on the prison to do a better job protecting those incarcerated. Some demanded that Gov. Gavin Newsom recognize the situation as a public health emergency and release some prisoners.
“CDCR is in charge of our loved ones’ safety,” she says. “But it feels like our loved ones are nothing to them.”
Prison officials released a statement that the “safety of the incarcerated population and staff… is our top priority.
“We are immediately responding to the increase in positive Covid-19 cases coordinated efforts to increase the frequency of testing, conduct contact tracing and implement isolation and quarantine measures to mitigate spread of Covid-19.”