Testimonies directly from people incarcerated at Santa Rita and informational resources on actions and decarceration
WELCOME TO THE SANTA RITA JAIL SOLIDARITY WEBSITE. This is primarily a resource for testimonies directly from people currently or formerly incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail, or from their family members and loved ones. While many of the current testimonies focus on issues inside jail during the COVID-19 crisis, moving forward this site will offer testimonies on a wide range of themes — from labor conditions, physical and mental healthcare, access to visitation and phone calls, hygiene and sanitation, use of lock-downs, and other topics that have been persistent issues for people inside. These testimonies have been gathered by lawyers, community advocates, and organizers, and are as unaltered as possible. Names and PFNs are only included if we have received clear and informed permission from the person giving the testimony to make that information public; otherwise, we have changed the names and removed other identifying information.
We know that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office has always gone to great lengths to cover up the truth about conditions inside the jail — from constant lies to the press regarding in-custody deaths, medical care, abuse by deputies, hygiene, sanitation, and so much more, to labeling testimonies from prisoners presented by attorneys in public hearings as false “misinformation.” We understand that ACSO uses its control over the narrative and its lack of transparency as powerful tools, in an attempt to increase funding, power, and control. This website is our attempt to push back against the Sheriff’s ability to use these tools through sharing this firsthand information.
Throughout our communications with many people incarcerated in the jail, when we have asked what people outside can do to support them, one near-universal request that has emerged has been to keep the public informed about the reality of conditions inside – a reality which is often outrageously misrepresented by the Sheriff and jail spokespeople. Our primary goal is to support the needs and the well-being of prisoners, and the creation of this website is part of our effort to meet this request. We aim to inform you so that together, we can build a robust network of support for people experiencing neglect, abuse and exploitation by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.
At least two dozen prisoners in the Alameda County Jail are continuing a hunger strike which began on January 8, 2022 to protest an increase in the jail’s commissary prices. Prices increased on December 27, 2021; the second price increase during the COVID-19 pandemic alone.
Even if you’re the most mannered person, they’ll still treat you like you’re a piece of shit. For example, I told them I was throwing up and fainting and not feeling good, and they were like, “Do you want to go to the nurse? Well, you’re going to stay here.”
Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and Alameda County Sheriff’s Department is linked to human trafficking of human lives at Santa Rita Jail – it’s a business. You have tons of detainees housed at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA based on violations that have taken place from arresting agencies....meaning you will sit in custody for months or years while Alameda County makes money off of you.
I’m a 44-year-old African-American male. I was raised in North Oakland, CA – a low-income and a high-poverty neighborhood. I lived in a household with a single parent...Many African-American kids grow up with similar or same pain as me.
All these are violations and due process rights violations that most people of color are dealing with. Alameda County Public Defenders refuse to address these factors. That’s why we have hundreds of African-American detainees that’s been sitting in custody for a long period of time. Because we’ve already been failed badly by Alameda County Public Defender’s Office.
Ms. Nancy O’Malley you have over 2,000 inmates in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA. You have a lot of detainees right now that suffer from these listed violations and most district attorneys are fully aware of that. Why haven’t those cases been resolved, dismissed, or fully tossed out?
We were not tested for COVID on intake or release. I was not provided food based on my dietary restrictions and the entire time I ate 1 orange and a few pieces of celery. As soon as I left I threw up. Guards repeatedly ignored my request for a nurse because I felt sick and needed medication the whole time.
Being reduced to animal-like treatment is what is jeopardizing public safety, not promoting it. Our issues become exacerbated and once again, the expensive system fails at its job, causing more harm and pain than it does good.
African-Americans are being targeted ...We are being human trafficked within this racial injustice system. We need the Governor of California to visit county jails like Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County. We need the law enforcement associations to re-train local law enforcement agencies’ investigation duties right now. We need Senators to address these issues now – do Black lives really matter?
We need help in Santa Rita, real bad, it's getting out of control, and we can't handle it no more. We just need help here. Please, somebody help us here at Santa Rita.
People of color and those that come from low poverty is being denied the Humphrey law. It will show, that’s why the inmate population is growing fast at Santa Rita Jail....it seems like nobody is being released. It’s 85% of African Americans that’s housed at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County – the new form of modern day slavery.
Between August 16 and August 29, 2020, Marcus tracked how many trays he received that were dirty (remnants of leftover food bits from previous meals still stuck to trays). After reviewing this information, I found that out of 28 meals that came on trays during this time period (14 breakfasts and dinners), 10 meals came on dirty trays (around 36 percent).
If what the women inmate kitchen workers state is true, that trays which fall on the ground are simply picked up and placed back on tables for filing, or that upon finding rodent feces or cockroaches, the Aramark workers will merely pick off the feces or bugs and then serve the food, this is unacceptable and unsanitary practices, and must be curtailed immediately.
When we filed grievances, the response is “resolved” because they have put sticky traps under the oven and vending machines. But, it doesn’t fix the reason the mice are here. The jail has not repaired the holes in the walls where the mice live.
Last week, for some reason, I got a stomach illness. I was throwing up, I was constipated, my stomach burned, and I could not eat for two days. I think it was related to something I ate. It’s hard to know if my stomach illness came from eating burnt food, or if it came from eating food that was contaminated.
In June, I missed 22 meals. In July, I missed 14 meals. Despite me submitting that grievance regarding missed meals back in mid-March 2020, the jail still often does not provide me with my meals, and does not provide me with replacement gluten free meals when my meal is missing.
After the incident, I was afraid to eat the food, particularly since the guards and the sergeant didn’t seem to care. It is not just about getting a new lunch, because any meal, or every meal could have feces in it. It just happened that I caught it that one time, so getting a new lunch does not change the fact that the kitchen has mice.
Around January or February of 2020, when Aramark started changing the menu, reducing the food portions more, and leaving out more of the meal elements, and I started losing weight. I have lost almost 70 pounds between January and August 2020 (eight months). In August 2020, I weighed 180 pounds, which I haven’t weighed since I was 16 years old.
Later that day, I submitted a grievance about the metal in my oatmeal, but the response came back as “Resolved”, because I was “offered another tray.”
I was stirring my rice when I saw a cockroach in the rice. Its body was partially translucent and I could see its skeleton, it had cooked into the rice, but I could see the legs and the wings. Finding the cockroach in my rice made me feel sick. I threw up from eating that cockroach.