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 recently an inmate in Santa Rita Jail, the County Jail for Alameda County. I had been in Santa Rita since January 19, 2020. I was released on my criminal case at the end of April. I had been housed in Housing Unit 7E, and in the 7 Unit, there had been a number of individuals who had not been feeling well and were removed. We did not know what happened to them, but we all assumed they were removed for the corona virus.
Starting on March 5, 2020, I was not feeling well. I was having body pains, I had no energy, and I could hardly get up. I was having a hard time breathing. I asked to see the doctor. I asked to be tested for the corona virus. The deputy took me to the doctor, who said I was fine. The doctor did not get me tested for corona. I felt so weak and felt so bad that I could not get out of my bed. The mornings were the worst. I could not get up to eat breakfast, lunches they put in my room, and generally, I dragged myself out for dinner. For five weeks, I basically laid down and did nothing. I couldn’t call my wife. I couldn’t even get up to call my attorney.
On April 14, 2020, the jail handed out electronic tablets. With the tablet in my cell, I phoned Attorney Yolanda Huang. I called her and asked for help. I told her that I believed I needed to be tested for the corona virus, and that I had been so sick, I could not get out of bed and could not get up to go get my breakfast food tray.
After Ms. Huang intervened, later that day, someone did in fact come and swab my nose for the flu and then told me I was told I was going to be moved to Housing Unit 8C, where everyone who had tested positive would be moved, despite having not yet been confirmed positive for corona.
He immediately slapped hand cuffs on me, and twisted my arm, and dragged me to Housing Unit 8C, even though I was feeling so poorly. When I arrived at Housing Unit 8C, the first cell they put me in was so filthy, with garbage and dirt all over the cell that I told them if they forced me to be in that cell, they would have to put me on suicide watch.
I didn’t want to move to HU8C because the cells are dirty. The deputy told me I had no choice. He was dressed like an astronaut, in a white space suit. He immediately slapped hand cuffs on me, and twisted my arm, and dragged me to Housing Unit 8C, even though I was feeling so poorly. When I arrived at Housing Unit 8C, the first cell they put me in was so filthy, with garbage and dirt all over the cell that I told them if they forced me to be in that cell, they would have to put me on suicide watch. Then they put me in a cell that at least had the garbage removed.
During the entire time I was feeling sick and in the 8 Building, the nurses and doctors did nothing to help me except to come and take my vitals. When I told them that my body hurt, and that I was having a hard time breathing, all they gave me was Tylenol. I could not even get a cup of anything hot to drink — no tea, no coffee. The only hot water I had access to was from the tap in my cell, which was just lukewarm. In Unit 8C, the shower did not work, there was hardly any water and no water pressure. Someone in a white astronaut suit opened my cell door and put my food tray on the floor, like I was a dog. My cell was never cleaned, and I received no soap, and no hand wipes. On April 17, 2020, the jail informed me that I had tested positive for corona virus.
In HU8, we were all given one hour a day out of our cell. Otherwise, we were locked up and alone twenty-three hours a day. During that one hour outside of our cell, we had the opportunity to get up and use the phone. This corona virus comes in waves. Sometimes, I felt so bad and so feverish, it was all I could do to just lie down and endure. Other times, I felt better and could sit up. During the times I could sit up, I look out the glass of my door to see what was going on. What I saw is that one person at a time was having pod time. I also saw that inmates had no gloves, and were touching the tables and phone, and that the phone was not sanitized between each inmate’s use, and the pod was not wiped down at all.
In Unit 8C, the shower did not work, there was hardly any water and no water pressure. Someone in a white astronaut suit opened my cell door and put my food tray on the floor, like I was a dog. My cell was never cleaned, and I received no soap, and no hand wipes. On April 17, 2020, the jail informed me that I had tested positive for corona virus.
The food we got was almost inedible. It was served on plastic, reused trays, and often the trays were dirty with old food that was not washed off underneath the “new food” on top. Feeling bad, it is hard to eat anyway and even harder to eat the awful stuff the Jail calls food.
The Jail was providing me with no medical treatment and nothing to make me more comfortable. In my observation, the only thing the jail was doing in response to covid was moving us around. The doctors didn’t care.