“Santa Rita Jail is holding a lot of information back from the public. Right next door to me there are people with coronavirus…deputies just don’t care about public health or human health! They are exposing people to the virus.” Eric reports that last night someone with the virus was moved into the cell next to him; these cells share the same ventilation system. Eric put in a request to medical because he is experiencing itchy eyes, a sore throat, and tightness in his chest. When he went to medical, he was provided with pain pills and his temperature was checked – no fever, but he’s concerned that sometimes people with the virus don’t have a fever. He wants a test but hasn’t been tested yet. Today, he was offered Tylenol and throat lozenges. Eric referred to the mobile trailer on the grounds as a “supervised shower – so they can tell the public they’re taking action.” After showering outside on 4/18 and getting dressed, Eric was put in a multipurpose room along with many people from his pod, about 30 people. This room was about 20×20 and they were packed in “like clams or sardines.” Everyone went out to the yard after being in the room for about 30 minutes “breathing all over each other.” Eric says, “the coronavirus is spreading dramatically fast up in this jail facility. I can’t believe that these people are submitting false information to the public. The people house up in here know the truth of what’s really going on, but we get retaliated against by the Sheriff.” Deputy Whitlock said that 6-foot distance and a face mask are required and threatened to write people up if they don’t maintain distance or wear a mask. Eric says “how are you going to write someone up if you’re not doing your job?”
“The coronavirus is spreading dramatically fast up in this jail facility. I can’t believe that these people are submitting false information to the public. The people housed up in here know the truth of what’s really going on, but we get retaliated against by the Sheriff.”