[ad_1]
Inmates at the Santa Clara County Main Jail went on a hunger strike this week to protest the prison’s largest COVID-19 outbreak since the pandemic began in March.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the sheriff’s office reported 109 new cases of COVID-19. That same night, the hunger strike began in Wing 7B of the main prison to protest the unsanitary living conditions and lack of politics which prisoners say led to epidemics.
One of 40 plus inmates taking part in the hunger strike in 7B, Ceaser Torres, said the hunger strike was the only way to get the change the inmates desperately need.
“It seems the jail and sheriff’s office facilities don’t really take us seriously unless we do something extreme,” Torres said.
Unit 7B was the site of a COVID-19 outbreak in December, which coincided with a private party inside several unmasked correctional assistants and supervisors that surfaced on Facebook.
“I think the epidemic is the result of total neglect of the prison administration and staff – or simply the institutional inability to take on basic responsibilities,” said Raj Jayadev, co-founder of the grassroots community organization Silicon Valley De-Bug. “And what I want to highlight are these pictures of correctional officers throwing a party.”
Jayadev said all prison outbreaks likely came from the staff, as they are the only ones leaving and entering the prisons.
Another De-Bug organizer, Jose Valle, who works closely with the prison population, said everyone in 7B has shown symptoms of COVID-19. If they didn’t test positive, it’s because they declined the test so they don’t have to be moved to another, possibly dirtier cell, Valle said.
Valle said the last outbreak in December in 7B was the second outbreak in that housing unit since March.
The 109 new active positive cases reported Wednesday involve all prisons in the county.
On Friday, the number of active cases rose to 127 new cases in the county since January 5 – representing a quarter of the 501 cumulative infections in prisons since March.
January also marked the three highest new day-long infections among the county’s incarcerated population, with 38 on Friday, 35 on January 2 and 36 on January 4. And on Tuesday, a day before the hunger strike, the county reported the fifth highest single-day new infections with 22 cases.
In response to large outbreaks, the Santa Clara County Attorney’s Office has been working with public defenders to facilitate additional releases that could begin as early as next week.
“When COVID first occurred in March, we put together a team which actually very quickly resulted in a reduction of about a third of the prison population,” the deputy district attorney said. , David Angel. “So we’ve kind of got the same team together now.”
Angel said the releases were successful because they were able to drastically reduce prison capacity without seeing increased recidivism rates or spikes in crime.
He also said it was not known how many detainees would be released and that they would have a better idea next week, but it is unlikely that there will be another 1,000 released as in the first round.
“We are looking for people at the end of their sentence,” said Angel.
The AD office is also looking for solutions for those released to housing, treatment and surveillance, and possibly electronic surveillance, Angel said.
But for detainees and activists, further release is just one of six demands to end the hunger strike.
Inmates are also asking that visitation rights not be suspended and that the county public health and correctional health department create a plan to share with inmates to ensure that prison conditions are in compliance. standards of health and medical treatment.
“The cells there are very unsanitary, it’s just horrible,” said Anastacia Bravo, Torres’ wife. “I’m surprised no one is dead yet.”
Torres has been in the county for eight years and was one of the inmates who tested positive during the latest COVID-19 outbreak in 7B.
He shared that he had taken part in an annual hunger strike since 2016. The demands differ but are linked to living conditions in the prison, he said.
His longest strike was in his first year, where he didn’t eat for 12 days and lost 17 pounds.
This latest hunger strike marks his fifth and for him, perhaps the most personal.
“You really start to feel it on the third or fourth day,” Torres said. “But I know how much my body can take. I can go 12, 13, 14 days and I’m ready to wait.”
After testing positive, Torres was transferred to the prison infirmary to be quarantined with other people who tested positive for COVID-19. After five days, he was transferred to Floor 6A, which is known to house those with mental health issues.
“The one I was supposed to get in had droppings on the wall and I needed to clean it up. There was dirt, like moldy food crusted on the floor. Lots of writing on the wall and I don’t want to talk about anything. other than one of the cells also had sperm on the desk, “Torres said.” It just made us sicker. “
He said when the nurses came in to take their vital signs, the fever was on the rise and the blood pressure was going down.
“The next day I had a terrible cough and a headache. The aches were intense,” Torres said. “It was hard having COVID, especially to clean it up when you could barely breathe. I still haven’t regained my sense of smell.”
According to a survey of 30 inmates by Silicon Valley De-Bug, all said they did not have enough cleaning supplies to keep their cells clean.
The same survey found that 85% of inmates were in bunk beds in dormitories less than six feet apart, 100% said they were forced to share bathrooms without sanitation between uses and 95% said that the phones were not disinfected between uses.
In an email, the sheriff’s office said it was aware of the hunger strike and was working on solutions.
“We take the health and well-being of those in our care seriously and will work closely with on-call health services regarding those who choose to participate,” the email said. “Our office will continue to work to address and resolve issues related to prison operations.”
Jayadev said detainees, family members and advocates have been working for months to change the living conditions of detainees.
“That’s why we kind of hit this hunger strike,” Jayadev said. “They have [inmates] exhausted all options and did all they could. “
He said they had followed the conventional avenues available to them: file grievances, appeal grievance responses, attempt to go through the court system and have family and friends litigate on their behalf.
Torres said he filed two grievances in January, but doesn’t expect much to change. In his experience, hunger strikes are the only thing that prompts the sheriff’s office to make significant changes.
“I’ve been here for so many years and have seen the changes they are able to make. And I know the captain of the sheriff’s office has the power to give us what we ask for, which are really things. simple. ” Torres said.
Torres tested negative for COVID-19 at the end of December, but still suffers from some symptoms. His wife fears that the hunger strike could lead to more health complications.
“For my husband to starve himself just to get basic rights for himself, I don’t think it’s right,” Bravo said. “I don’t want him to do it, especially since he’s still recovering from COVID. But this is his fifth hunger strike and he’s determined to make a change.”
Copyright © 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, rebroadcasting, or any other reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
[ad_2]
Source link