I am currently an inmate in Santa Rita Jail (SRJ), the County Jail for Alameda County, housed in Housing Unit (HU) 24. I am currently a kitchen worker and a pod worker. I have been an inmate worker for 2.5 months. Up until last week, I worked on the main line, doing food production. The women work the late shift, which is from 3:30p.m. to about 9:30p.m.
Not long ago, I saw a mouse jump out of a box of cookies. I told Joe, “Joe, a mouse just jumped out of the box of cookies”. Joe said “OK” and nothing else. He did not do anything about the mouse, and did nothing about that box of cookies.
I work on the bakery line, with the Aramark worker, Joe. When the afternoon men’s shift is done, they take the boxes of opened cookies and put them into plastic bags. The plastic is rather thin and are left top of a pallet. They make one knot around the top of the plastic bag. Mice seem to easily get into that bag. Not long ago, I saw a mouse jump out of a box of cookies. I told Joe, “Joe, a mouse just jumped out of the box of cookies”. Joe said “OK” and nothing else. He did not do anything about the mouse, and did nothing about that box of cookies.
At night when I’m working, there are lots of birds, living in the kitchen, flying around. I talked to Joe about the pigeons. He just giggled nervously and didn’t say anything. Last week, an Aramark worker got sick with COVID, so our hours were changed. We now work 8:30 p.m. to midnight.
Very often, almost 50% of the time, the food on the trays are burnt. It can be either dinner or breakfast. Of the burnt trays, about half of the time, the food is inedible. The other half of the time, I try to eat the food because there’s no other food. The food should be heated for two hours. But inmates do not control the amount of time the food is in the oven. Deputies control this.
Very often, almost 50% of the time, the food on the trays are burnt. It can be either dinner or breakfast. Of the burnt trays, about half of the time, the food is inedible. The other half of the time, I try to eat the food because there’s no other food. The food should be heated for two hours. But inmates do not control the amount of time the food is in the oven. Deputies control this.
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.