prisoner with asthma and other health issues denied regular access to inhaler, concerned that shared inhalers could transmit covid-19

This testimony was a declaration from the May 7, 2020 filing of a new class action lawsuit over jail conditions related to COVID-19 on behalf of prisoners at Santa Rita Jail against the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. 

I am incarcerated at the Santa Rita Jail in Housing Unit 24E. I am 54 years old and I have a number of health issues, including high blood pressure, asthma, and a heart condition. In Santa Rita, medical does not give you your own asthma inhaler. So, the only time to be able to use the inhaler is during sick call. The nurse has a cardboard box with your name on it, and you put the inhaler in the cardboard box, and hold it up to your mouth. I have always wondered who else uses that inhaler, and if using that inhaler could cause me to catch COVID-19.

If you have trouble breathing other times, there’s no sick call and there’s no inhaler, and you have to push the button. But the technician who answers the button talks to you in such a way, as to make you feel really bad, so these last few weeks, although I had chest pains, I didn’t push the button.

If you have trouble breathing other times, there’s no sick call and there’s no inhaler, and you have to push the button. But the technician who answers the button talks to you in such a way, as to make you feel really bad, so these last few weeks, although I had chest pains, I didn’t push the button. And the nurse who was working sick call always made me feel like I was asking for a lot when I would say I didn’t feel good and wanted to see the doctor. So, for the last while, I didn’t go to sick call.

Finally, it got to the point where I couldn’t breathe, and my chest hurt, and I had a really terrible headache. Finally, I went to sick call, and I was lucky, the mean nurse was not working that day. And when the nurse took a look at me, she told me that whenever I have chest pains, I should push the button, and she gave me the inhaler to use. But as I said, it’s hard to push the button. It would be easier if they just let us have an inhaler. It would work better too because I could use it when I was having trouble breathing instead of having to wait and only use it during sick call.

Learn how you can take action to demand more releases from Santa Rita to protect the health and safety of our community

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