San Quentin Families Suffering from COVID-19 Outbreak, Mishandled by CDCR

San Quentin was coronavirus free on March 19 when the state of California began Safer at Home orders.  Then in late May, 122 inmates were transferred from the California Institution for Men in Chino. Inmates at San Quentin knew then what it took California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials weeks to figure out;  an outbreak was imminent.

The family of San Quentin correctional officers and inmates went from 0 cases of COVID-19 to today over 1,500 confirmed cases. According to the podcast Uncuffed which brings stories from San Quentin and Solano prisons to the outside world, in April, San Quentin inmates were given two masks, a six ounce bottle of hand sanitizer and instructed to sleep head to foot in their cells. This was their COVID-19 prevention measures. Incarcerated individuals still have those same two masks and received no more hand sanitizer.

Snap Judgment podcast, in collaboration with Uncuffed delivers stories in the voice of those men who survived the overcrowded conditions of San Quentin, but at least one of them reporting did not escape contracting the disease. Over 1,200 correctional officers have also tested positive for coronavirus. And, yes, there have been deaths.

I am so glad that my cousin retired from San Quentin CDCR years ago, but I have a loved one who still works as a correctional officer in Chino. And, I have a loved one still incarcerated in Northern California. 

So many families are affected directly and indirectly as prisons that were once COVID-19 free become infected. Now, the state of California wants to reduce overcrowding by sending inmates back into the community. 

There are so many non-violent offenders that should not have been criminalized which are now suffering mental and physical dolor. For more evidence, see the stories about Meek Mill, Kalief Browder, or watch "When They See Us" to understand the criminal injustice system and why it needs to be reimagined.

It must feel like such a betrayal when a family member receives prison time for a non-violent offense instead of a quality education,  job training, affordable housing or treatment. Then there’s decades of languishing in a jail cell for your loved one and then after contracting COVID-19 they are released into the loving care of their supportive family and friends which is sure to increase the rate of transmission in the community. Sounds like more fuel for conspiracy theorists.

The embedded links and videos do an excellent job of capturing the first hand voices of those souls who are suffering unjustly and I would suggest listening to SNAP JUDGMENT, UNCUFFED, and NBC DATELINE.  God bless them and their families.