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 was incarcerated in Santa Rita Jail for over one year, from March 2019 through April 15, 2020. During this period of time, I spent more than eight months in what Santa Rita Jail calls its “OPHU” or Out-Patient Housing Unit, for a severe knee infection, which required over three surgeries. My knee infection came about because I cut open my knee after falling on some steps, and fecal bacteria became embedded inside my knee. While the steps I fell on were not close to the bathroom of my housing unit in Santa Rita, I believe that the poor sanitation and hygiene practices in Santa Rita spread bacteria around the entire jail because the jail uses the same mops and brooms to clean bathrooms and all the common areas of multiple cells, without ever sanitizing the mops and brooms.
From December 2020 until the time I was released, I was housed in the OPHU, and after the Corona Virus pandemic began, most of the rooms in the OPHU were used to house individuals who had active cases of Corona Virus. My cell, cell 14, was right next to the main nurses’ station, so I could hear the conversations of the nurse, the doctors, and the deputies.
My knee infection came about because I cut open my knee after falling on some steps, and fecal bacteria became embedded inside my knee. While the steps I fell on were not close to the bathroom of my housing unit in Santa Rita, I believe that the poor sanitation and hygiene practices in Santa Rita spread bacteria around the entire jail because the jail uses the same mops and brooms to clean bathrooms and all the common areas of multiple cells, without ever sanitizing the mops and brooms.
The poor sanitation and hygiene practices of Santa Rita Jail are also the same practices in the OPHU, although it is supposed to be a medical housing unit. For example, there is no cleaning of any OPHU cell, except occasionally when an inmate is released from the OPHU. For the entire four and a half months I was there, my cell was never cleaned. I was never provided with cleaning supplies so I could not clean my own cell.
The OPHU cells are solitary confinement cells. There is no day room, and we are never allowed out for any exercise activities. There is a small sink and a toilet but no shower in this room. Because we are never taken out, getting access to a shower is very difficult. Often, it would be two weeks or more before the jail would let me out of my cell to take a shower. I was also taken out of my cell once every couple of weeks to have access to the telephone because my cell had no phone access.
OPHU does not provide basic inmate services, such as a regular laundry exchange. In the entire four and a half months I was here, this last time, I never received a laundry exchange, no clean towel, no clean clothes, no clean socks, no clean underwear and no clean bedding. I wore the same clothes for four and a half months — I had to rinse my clothes out in the little sink on my own and let them air dry. There was no laundry exchange at all.
While in the OPHU, I was able to practice social distancing from other inmates because I was never in contact with them, however, I did have to utilize a community shower which was hardly ever cleaned. There was no social distancing from the guards or medical staff who routinely interacted with prisoners suspected of having Corona Virus and then with me without changing their personal protective equipment “PPE.” I received no mask, no hand soap, and no hand sanitizer. When I was taken out of my cell, I was simply walked through the corridors when I was taken for a shower or to use the phone, and a guard would escort me through the hall.
The poor sanitation and hygiene practices of Santa Rita Jail are also the same practices in the OPHU, although it is supposed to be a medical housing unit. For example, there is no cleaning of any OPHU cell, except occasionally when an inmate is released from the OPHU. For the entire four and a half months I was there, my cell was never cleaned. I was never provided with cleaning supplies so I could not clean my own cell.
When the Alameda County Superior Court issued its Emergency Rule 4.115 on Wednesday, April 8, 2020, I was able to bail out of jail. I left jail with only the clothes in which I had been arrested in, a year ago. During this year, I had lost my job, lost my apartment, lost my car, and lost all of my possessions. My lawyer, Yolanda Huang was very helpful in obtaining an emergency housing voucher in a local hotel. Otherwise, I would be homeless.
While sheltering in place at this hotel, on Sunday morning, April 12, 2020, I started feeling sick. I was having flu like symptoms, a headache, chills, body ache and a sore throat and a dry cough. I phoned my attorney, Yolanda Huang, to let her know that I was sick.
On April 21, 2020, my symptoms worsened and I went to Highland Hospital, where I was admitted and tested for COVID-19. I tested positive, and immediately informed Wellpath and the Alameda County Sheriff of my diagnosis. I requested that they immediately do contact tracing, of all individuals within the jail who may have had contact with me during my incarceration in the past few weeks.
I believe that I contracted COVID-19 while in the OPHU of Santa Rita Jail, as that is the only source where I had contact with individuals who had COVID-19, and that the sheriff failed to take the necessary steps to protect me from contracting COVID-19, failed to do the required testing, and failed to take action, well within the sheriff’s power and control, to even refer me to emergency housing so that I could be safe and prevent others from being infected with COVID-19.
A request was again submitted to the sheriff to make a referral for me to have continued emergency housing once my current housing voucher expired, as I was under strict instructions to quarantine. The sheriff failed and refused to refer me for emergency housing.
I believe that I contracted COVID-19 while in the OPHU of Santa Rita Jail, as that is the only source where I had contact with individuals who had COVID-19, and that the sheriff failed to take the necessary steps to protect me from contracting COVID-19, failed to do the required testing, and failed to take action, well within the sheriff’s power and control, to even refer me to emergency housing so that I could be safe and prevent others from being infected with COVID-19.