I am an inmate at Santa Rita Jail. I have been at Santa Rita for 14 ½ months. In the time that I have been at this Dublin, CA jail, I have witnessed neglect, mental abuse, and unsanitary eating and living environments.
Deputies spend more time sleeping during their shifts, laughing, cracking jokes, playing games, and watching videos on YouTube, while inmates suffer sitting in garbage-filled, hot, flooded toilet cells. Deputies show little to no interest when inmates need serious medical attention or cleaning supplies. Most of the time they are ignored. What happens is the deputies make “pod workers” which are inmates deal with all unclean filthy cells, clothes, or closets.
Since March, when the Covid-19 began affecting the jail, Santa Rita deputies have become more negligent, lazy, and complacent in dealing with sanitation. Deputies get paid much to do nothing but sit around. Besides the horror of mixing new inmates in cages and cells with others, they leave empty cells from released inmates, uncleaned for days. And when a new inmate arrives they just throw them in filthy, germ-filled cells.
Deputies spend more time sleeping during their shifts, laughing, cracking jokes, playing games, and watching videos on YouTube, while inmates suffer sitting in garbage-filled, hot, flooded toilet cells. Deputies show little to no interest when inmates need serious medical attention or cleaning supplies. Most of the time they are ignored.
Mice and gnats are taking over the pods, making it difficult to sleep or relax. Food trays are covered in rat or bird droppings. Food contents are thrown in trays sloppy and upside down, leaking bean or fruit juice. Most trays are not completely sealed.
In the month of July, three housing units have gotten sick. The sick inmates work in the kitchen and laundry areas. Deputies get upset with inmates who speak out openly about how unsanitary the kitchen is. They make excuses for their coworkers’ lack of supervision and mishandlings. Since all kitchen and laundry workers have been on quarantine, they have not had professional contractors deep clean the kitchen at all. They just keep throwing more workers in there, putting them at serious harm.
Housing Unit 24 for women is a disgrace. All of the female deputies mentally abuse inmates daily. They neglect mentally-ill inmates daily as well as main line inmates, by letting us suffer in unclean environments, and serving unclean food. Deputies in Housing Unit 24 sit around daily eating homemade food and sweets, laughing so loud the hallways echo while watching YouTube videos.
During inspections, they make the “podworkers” slave day in day out to cover up all the seen dirt-filled areas, waxing floors and door knobs. Inmates pod workers are not even offered a glass of cold water, or a special meal for helping housing units pass inspections. When tours arrive to view or inspect, they only give a days or hour notice. Sergeants come in housing units angry, demanding all sorts of cleaning done to the entire housing unit overnight, and the deputies put their slave pod workers to work fast! Cleaning inside and even outside in 100-degree weather heat. Cleaning to injury or total fatigue trying to make the jail’s deadline. Deputies do not help they just monitor and give instruction. Other officers kick back in their office or upstairs with the tech in the booth, watching YouTube videos and betting on what housing unit will have the shiniest floors and day rooms. They do all this while passing homemade or cafeteria food all around each other as if they are at a party. How could women with authority abuse their jobs like this.
During inspections, they make the “podworkers” slave day in day out to cover up all the seen dirt-filled areas, waxing floors and door knobs…..Sergeants come in housing units angry, demanding all sorts of cleaning done to the entire housing unit overnight, and the deputies put their slave pod workers to work fast! Cleaning inside and even outside in 100-degree weather heat. Cleaning to injury or total fatigue trying to make the jail’s deadline.
It is unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional how they are dehumanizing many mothers, daughters, and US citizens like this. It’s all happening secretly, no one comes to see how we are treated. Cameras have illegally been installed in the women’s showers and toilet areas. Real outside cameras need to come inside Santa Rita Jail housing units surprisingly to catch their infractions and wrongdoings on a 24-hour basis.
They need to abolish “pod workers,” period. Deputies should do the job they are paid thousands of dollars to do and stop enslaving already depressed, abused, drug-dependent, neglected, poor men and women inmates. Housing Unit 24 is not following jail guidelines for searches, write-ups, or grievances. They manipulate their positions to the point women feel like they have to be in survival mode all the time.
In medical areas (infirmary), they put Covid-19 victims on floor beds all sharing the same space and bathroom with regular inmates. Bathrooms are not cleaned by professionals or hourly. The kitchen food is poisonous with rat and bird droppings and feathers. They feed this food to inmates knowingly, it is against our human rights. We are American citizens, people, not trash or throwaways. Most are here for misdemeanor or low felony crimes. We have families, careers, jobs, loved ones waiting for our return. This was not meant to be a one-way trip. We don’t have any way of changing things here without writing and reaching out to our families and advocates. There are attorneys we know that can help us through these letters. We need help to stop the deputies from physically bullying, and mentally abusing us from behind hidden concrete walls. Our walls are crying out!
In medical areas (infirmary), they put Covid-19 victims on floor beds all sharing the same space and bathroom with regular inmates. Bathrooms are not cleaned by professionals or hourly. The kitchen food is poisonous with rat and bird droppings and feathers….If we speak to outside activists and they find out, they punish us by no “pod time” cell lockdown, and cell shakedowns destroying our bed and personal belongings. Even taking items like food and soap we pay for on commissary.
Deputies do not even social distance themselves. They sit knee-to-knee in their office daily, eating laughing, and sharing phones. If we speak to outside activists and they find out, they punish us by no “pod time” cell lockdown, and cell shakedowns destroying our bed and personal belongings. Even taking items like food and soap we pay for on commissary.
I will continue to write letters every week until I know that justice is being served. Some of us are in total distress on the verge of breakdown, perfectly normal women having new unknown medical issues and mental meltdowns is stifling. I am hoping that this mail reaches all of you in good faith and trust considering deputies and the mail department tamper with letters going to attorneys or hotlines.
This place should be shut down and totally reformed inside out. No one really sees what’s been happening in this jail for decades. The deputies are spreading the virus, now two officers have died, next it will be inmates’ lives. We need help, early parole since prisons are not accepting, or probation. We don’t deserve to be hospitalized or die due to negligence from tyrant officers.
Best regards.
Included is a list of things that are disturbing and disgraceful:
Unsafe, Unsanitary Conditions Like These Will Spread Covid-19
- Birds flying all over the bakery and in dispatch
- Bird poop and feathers on food
- Dishwasher full of roaches, gnats, and flies everywhere including on food
- Mice are able to get to bags of food and eat kidney beans, rice, potatoes. Holes in bags ripped open from mice.
- Pallets and trays back up high to the ceiling and to the dirty wall.
- Roaches on the pots and pans
- The men caught Covid-19 in the kitchen and the breakroom was still left unclean.
- Contractors haven’t cleaned any area used by Covid-19 victims.
- Multiple housing units infected.
- Trash returned with dead mice inside and garbage unbagged.
- Gnats, flies all over meat and the packages say “not for human consumption.”
- Airway works directly with sick inmates.