I may be a mom of a young incarcerated girl, but I’m also an advocate for the many other people warehoused in prisons. So, I’m sharing on behalf of all of them. As of today, 15,190 prisoners in Florida have tested positive for COVID-19. COVID-19 has worsened staff shortages, with 2,340 corrections officers and staff testing positive. Three officers and 77 people who are currently incarcerated have died. There have been three deaths in my daughter’s prison, the Florida Women’s Reception Center, in Ocala. These numbers are climbing daily statewide.
We advocates have cried out ceaselessly since March to our legislators and to the governor about the crisis in Florida’s prisons; they have ignored us and now it’s a full-blown disaster that threatens the health of all of us. We have been abandoned by our governor. Our requests to him to take action have fallen on deaf ears. The governor and our legislature’s inaction have proven deadly.
The prisons are like a petri dish. People were moved from dorm to dorm while test results were pending. Symptomatic and asymptomatic people were waiting together in the same dorms for the test results. So, of course, cross contamination has occurred. Officers have been working dorm to dorm and carrying the virus with them.
People in Florida prisons are scared, depressed, stressed, alone and feel unsafe. The staff is tired and working extra hours with extra duties. They are sick and short staffed.
I’ve thought about what to say and write, but I believe we’ve said it all. Instead, I thought who better to make to talk about their experience in prison during the global pandemic than those who are currently incarcerated. Below are some pleas from our loved ones from different facilities about what is or was happening over the last few months. Please note, the quotes are anonymous and have been edited to fit the size of this article. The information we have been provided is fluid, but these have been ongoing concerns.
Lack of Communication
Some people were stuck in quarantine and had no meaningful communication with the staff. For over 30 days they have no idea when their prison life would return to some “normalcy.” Some prisons have lifted quarantines, but not all. While they were under quarantine, people didn’t know who was negative, who was positive, or who had been cleared as recovered.
Here is what they have said about the struggle to get information:
- “We’ve been asking for answers and we go ignored.”
- “Staff says it’s up to medical and medical says it’s up to staff.”
Our loved ones realize they may not get an answer they want to hear, but they just want to be acknowledged and not forgotten. Keeping them informed would keep tensions down.
Feeling the Frustrations of Overworked Officers
Normally, incarcerated people would perform many of the day-to-day duties in the prisons. Over the last several weeks, at least in the women’s prison, the officers have had to cut the grass, do laundry and run the kitchen alongside a handful of COVID-19 negative women.
They have said:
- “The officers come to work extremely annoyed with us because they have to do extra work due to us being quarantined, and they do what they can to make the situation worse than it already is.”
- “Some officers come to work yelling, screaming and cussing at us for no reason.”
- “Some come in and turn on every fluorescent light in the building, even though the captain says they don’t have to.”
- “Lights are a form of torture; there are 78 fluorescent lights in the bed area alone.”
The Dorms are not Sanitary
Once a contagious illness enters, conditions in correctional facilities are highly conducive to it spreading. People in prisons and jails live in close proximity to each other, and people in prisons and jails are often denied adequate soap and cleaning supplies, making infection control nearly impossible.
They have said:
- “When they moved us all around, the dorms weren’t sanitized. There is mold. The bathroom drains have been overflowing and the officers said there is nothing that can be done at this time due to us being quarantined. They do bring cleaning supplies daily, but the majority of the time they are so watered down that the bleach has no smell to it. Yet they want us to clean with it.”
- “Over the weekends we have gone without any cleaning supplies. However, then it became mandatory that we wash our sheets three times a week. They pull the laundry cart out of the dorms before 1 a.m., so we are forced to take our linens off our beds the night before. As a result, we have to sleep on the bare mattress with one blanket three nights a week.”
- “There have been women lined up sick in the bathroom. Some of us walk around with watered down bleach wiping everything down and handing out bio bags so they can throw up. We need bleach, pure bleach, to disinfect the dormitory that's full of sick women.”
Once a contagious illness enters, conditions in correctional facilities are highly conducive to it spreading.
Medical Issues
Many people incarcerated in prisons and jails are in relatively poor health and suffer from serious chronic conditions due to lack of access to healthcare.
They have said:
“Some are missing medication times. Diabetics are missing diabetic snacks, due to lack of communication with staff. Staff is also not telling medical staff who is symptomatic and in need of care. There is a lack of over the counter meds, like Tylenol. People with other medical issues are being ignored. We are concerned because they aren’t being tested to see who is cleared, and we are in fear it will go back and forth because we can’t social distance. They hardly check on the sick ones.”
Lack of Nutrition
Some people who are currently incarcerated are on an emergency menu plan, which means they are not being fed enough calories or nutrition and are being fed at inconsistent times. Some facilities are serving one hot meal consisting of a carb and meat -- no vegetables or fruit. They offer bologna and PBJ for the other bagged meals. While such measures might be necessary short-term, this has been going on far too long. Fighting COVID requires nutrition.
They have said:
- “We’re hungry!”
- “Putting a bagged lunch two times a day and a patty with cabbage on a Styrofoam tray doesn’t make it a meal.”
Lack of PPE Training/Protocol
The officers go into COVID-19 restricted areas unmasked. They can go to work three days after testing positive if they feel okay, and can go to work when they have come into contact with a positive person while their test results are pending. They also work with incarcerated people who are sick in the hospital, but that doesn’t keep them from coming back into the dorms, often unmasked. In addition, people are still being transferred between prisons and jails.
They have said:
- “Prisoners can’t social distance. There are over 80 prisoners living in each positive dorm. There are 25 bunk beds around the wall and 36 single beds in the middle of the dorm. Every bed is full except four. How can anyone get better if we are on top of each other?”
- “They hardly check on us or the sick girls in here. They act like we got it from each other when, in all actuality, we got it from the staff not wearing masks or gloves. Also, picture this: You are told you are quarantined, several people around you are sick, but nothing is done for two weeks when you are finally tested. Of course, you are positive; you've been contaminated for two weeks. The COVID-19 outbreak inside these prison walls is not our fault. Please help us get some kind of relief.”
Quarantine Programming
Correctional programming is critical to the prisons’ missions of preparing individuals for release back into the community and transforming the lives of the individuals in custody. While some prisons offer programs, the Florida Women’s Reception Center offers none, not even a GED course. It’s mainly a reception center; however, there are people who are there permanently. They usually have their jobs working the grounds, but under quarantine they are not permitted to do this work. For the last several weeks, they have watched $7.99 movies from the 1990s paid for by their loved ones. JPay and Securus, private providers that we are locked into using for communications, are causing a hefty expense for us. They have even asked us for books. Imagine that! Something as simple as books weren’t being provided by the system! It’s been months since they’ve seen their families, and, even when families can afford video visitation, it freezes up often. Morale is in the dumps.
It almost seems as though we as inmates are being punished for what is going on, as if we had some control over whether or not we contracted COVID-19.
They have said:
- “While we were under quarantine and some positive for COVID-19, it is tough to be locked in the dorm 23 hours a day. We are allowed one scheduled hour outside per day. Some officers do try to make sure we are taken out, but some just sit at the computer and browse online during our rec time and ignore us if we ask.... If you ask, they look at you like you’re crazy. We want nothing more than to go back to our ''prison'' lives and stop depending on officers to do everything for us. I truly believe I speak on behalf of everyone with that statement. How we are treated is in the hands of overworked, underpaid, annoyed officers. We also realize this is serious for the officers; lives are being taken by COVID-19 daily. And just like everyone else, we are trying to cope with what the world has become at this point. During this trying time we are asking for a tiny bit of relief. However, it almost seems as though we as inmates are being punished for what is going on, as if we had some control over whether or not we contracted COVID-19.”
From Those in Solitary
“It has become a struggle psychologically; we “psych out” every day. We are tired of being locked behind a door. We want to go outside. Some of us haven't been outside for over a month. We’re being ignored. Medical blames it on security and security is blaming it on medical. We have been lost in a system that has left us to fight COVID-19 all alone in cells by ourselves.”
From Us Loved Ones
Is it all the Florida Department of Corrections fault? No, not all of it. Listen, there are good officers stuck in this situation too. It’s a horrible situation. It’s a tough time. We have asked the governor to de-densify the prisons to no avail. He could choose to look at first-time offenders who are doing well and identify low-risk offenders. He could use Florida Administrative Code 33.601-105, outlined by the Florida Justice League and State Rep. Dianne Hart. There are states that are doing compassionate releases, commutations and pardons, but Florida always has an excuse. Now, how is that working out? It’s a disaster!
To the Officers in Prisons
In the meantime, at the very least, we plead that you, the officers, have some compassion and provide some humane treatment. People who are currently incarcerated serve their sentence. This sentence follows them forever. Yes, it can be what they make of it, but don’t make their path harder. We just ask that while our loved ones are in your hands, find it in your hearts to allow some dignity for them and their families. We already know it’s not “Camp Nice-Nice,” but just let them do their time and think of prison as more of a place of rehabilitation. Sure, it won’t work for some, but maybe you could be the person that gives that positive light that can change the course of another’s life forever. We love to hear those success stories. While you are there watching over our loved ones, you are in this with us.
Let’s work together. Are we asking too much?
Hebrews 13:3: “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
Thank you on behalf of the incarcerated and their loved ones.
