I am currently an inmate in Santa Rita Jail (SRJ), the County Jail for Alameda County, housed in Housing Unit (HU) 4, Pod C. On September 5, 2020 at breakfast, I started eating my oatmeal. I took a few bites, and on around the fourth bite, I saw a piece of metal (square shape, jagged edges, about the size of an Altoid mint) on my spoon. It looked like a piece of a razor blade. Then, I started stirring through my oatmeal and found around four more similar pieces in the oatmeal.
I started eating my oatmeal. I took a few bites, and on around the fourth bite, I saw a piece of metal (square shape, jagged edges, about the size of an Altoid mint) on my spoon. It looked like a piece of a razor blade. Then, I started stirring through my oatmeal and found around four more similar pieces in the oatmeal.
After I found these pieces in my oatmeal, I went over to Sgt. Luna and held up the spoon with the metal pieces so he could see. Sgt. Luna offered to get me another tray, but I said no because I was so freaked out by seeing sharp metal pieces in my food; I wasn’t comfortable eating anything from the jail after that. Sgt. Luna assured me that he had caught the footage of me showing him the metal pieces on his body worn camera. Later that day, I submitted a grievance about the metal in my oatmeal, but the response came back as “Resolved”, because I was “offered another tray.”
Later that day, I submitted a grievance about the metal in my oatmeal, but the response came back as “Resolved”, because I was “offered another tray.”
Although I didn’t feel anything from eating breakfast, I decided, just to be careful, and filled out a sick call slip that day to get an x-ray. On September 17th, the jail brought me in for an x-ray but medical staff didn’t tell me what the results were. Two days later, the jail brought me in for a second x-ray. The jail medical staff were secretive about why they brought me back – they would not tell me the results from the first x-ray and would only say that they wanted to double-check something. Two weeks after my second x-ray, I still hadn’t heard back from medical about the results of my x-ray, even though I had been submitting multiple medical request slips to get my results back. Finally, after two weeks, they brought me back and told me that my first x-ray on September 17th showed that I had in fact swallowed a metal piece. But they said the x-ray two days later didn’t show the metal piece anymore, so I must have passed it somehow. They didn’t give me any more information.
Finally, after two weeks, they brought me back and told me that my first x-ray on September 17th showed that I had in fact swallowed a metal piece. But they said the x-ray two days later didn’t show the metal piece anymore, so I must have passed it somehow. They didn’t give me any more information.
I think it must be a miracle that I didn’t have any extreme health problems after swallowing that sharp piece of metal. But now, I am so scared to eat any jail food because I feel like I might swallow something else dangerous. Now, I just throw my trays out or offer them to someone else and rely on the commissary food that I can afford. My family is able to send me around $50 a week to buy commissary food, but the food at commissary isn’t that nutritional. It’s mostly the kind of junk food that you’d find at a corner store; there’s no fresh fruits or vegetables or anything like that. Since I swallowed that metal piece and haven’t been eating any jail food, I would estimate that I lost about 30-35 pounds. I’m 6’2” and I went from around 250 pounds to around 215 pounds. I also feel more lazy and like I have no energy to do much.
When I was eating the jail food, I noticed that around three times a week, the plastic cover wasn’t fully sealed on the tray because it was either broken or had fallen off. I also noticed that food trays with the plastic seal broken or off before they go into the oven end up overcooking really badly (food is dried out and burnt and therefore not edible).
I think it must be a miracle that I didn’t have any extreme health problems after swallowing that sharp piece of metal. But now, I am so scared to eat any jail food because I feel like I might swallow something else dangerous. Now, I just throw my trays out or offer them to someone else and rely on the commissary food that I can afford. My family is able to send me around $50 a week to buy commissary food, but the food at commissary isn’t that nutritional.
I am on a cardiac, no soy diet. When I was eating my jail meals (before September 5th, when I swallowed the metal piece), the oatmeal was always very slimy and sticky and hard around the edges. The diced apples we got for breakfast were really bitter and sour. I didn’t drink the milk usually, because the one time I tried the milk, it had a sour taste so I threw it in the garbage. Dinners for me were usually turkey and rice or chicken and potatoes or some combination of those. But the meat usually tasted super overcooked, and was almost like jerky because it is so tough. The rice was white rice, but around half the time I got rice, it was so dried out that it was hard and brown-ish in color. The broccoli I would often receive on the side was also dried out and overcooked.