I am currently an inmate in Santa Rita Jail. I have been here for aproximately 18 months. I am now in Housing Unit 24. During this time, I have been an inmate worker at various times. The last time I was an inmate worker was from February to August, 2020. During that period of time, I was a pod worker. As a pod worker, part of my job was to clean the pod and to serve the food.
As a pod worker, when I saw rat droppings or roaches on top of a food tray, I would throw the tray away. But if a deputy was there, they would just want to get that feces or dead roach off the top of the tray and serve the tray anyway.
Right now, our housing unit has many mice. They have made themselves at home in the walls near where the warming ovens are, and under the vending machines. When we filed grievances, the response is “resolved” because they have put sticky traps under the oven and vending machines. But, it doesn’t fix the reason the mice are here. The jail has not repaired the holes in the walls where the mice live.
Right now, our housing unit has many mice. They have made themselves at home in the walls near where the warming ovens are, and under the vending machines. When we filed grievances, the response is “resolved” because they have put sticky traps under the oven and vending machines. But, it doesn’t fix the reason the mice are here. The jail has not repaired the holes in the walls where the mice live. And one time, when a mouse was caught in the sticky trap and was still alive, the deputy tried to wash the sticky off to save that mouse.
The food trays we receive are contaminated with rat droppings and cockroaches. Within this past month, Veronica Guerrero found rat droppings in her tray, which I witnessed and Vanessa Obaca found a roach in her tray, which also I witnessed.
The food is frequently inedible. For example, with the beans, particularly the lentils the trays are often overheated so that the bottom of the beans are burnt and dried and stick to the tray. The processed soy/meat patty on top has absorbed all the liquid from the beans, and is soggy and falling apart. The sauce is burnt. The vegetables are dried like hay or twigs, and can’t be eaten.
The food is frequently inedible. For example, with the beans, particularly the lentils the trays are often overheated so that the bottom of the beans are burnt and dried and stick to the tray. The processed soy/meat patty on top has absorbed all the liquid from the beans, and is soggy and falling apart. The sauce is burnt. The vegetables are dried like hay or twigs, and can’t be eaten. This is partly because we never get the florets of the broccoli, only the stems, so when these are burnt and dried, they become inedible twigs. Trying to eat this food hurts my stomach.