Thread by @ORprisonreport

Oregon Prison Report: Voices from the Inside

"They are forcing us not to social distance, not with a person who could have COVID-19, but with a person who does have COVID-19."

#ODOCKills #KateBrownKills #FreeThemAll

(Testimony from Lane County Mutual Aid's (@eughungerstrike) Correspondence)

Santiam Correctional Institution (SCI) / January 21, 2021.

I don't know where to begin with this situation, but we now have proof that the Department of Corrections––I guess I can't say intentionally, but I believe the word "intentionally" can be used in this situation––intentionally spread COVID-19 through prisoners.

Starting yesterday in the morning––I believe this happened a lot because of pressure community members and family members have been putting on Santiam––Santiam started rotating through the entire population of the prison offering COVID-19 tests to every prisoner.

I would say about a third––I can't confirm the numbers on that––but about a third of the population here refused to take the tests.

About two thirds took the test. Out of the two thirds that took the test, dozens popped up positive with COVID-19.

I cannot give exact numbers, because I'm getting conflicting numbers. But the information I'm getting is about 60 prisoners here were confirmed to have COVID-19.

[Yeah, the numbers went up from around 13 to 76 in the last week.]

Ok, cool, my numbers might be accurate. I can't give exact numbers.

Last night they instructed every prisoner––I have to remind you, we're in a giant dorm, we're in a giant room; my bunk is maybe four feet from a bunk on the left and a bunk on the right––and they instructed everybody to get on the bunks...

... while a nurse came through, and went to every bed with someone positive, and informed them, "You are positive with COVID-19."

First off––this isn't the big issue, but in my mind it is an issue––it's a HIPPA violation. You can't make medical records public.

You can't announce publicly that someone has a disease. Medical records are protected, and you need to do it privately. But they didn't. They went bunk to bunk, telling people who had COVID-19.

My dorm alone had about 15 people who had COVID-19. Then they left the people who had COVID-19 in here for about 24 hours. They did not move the people. They did not anything whatsoever. They just left people with COVID-19 in dorms that have a hundred plus people in them.

I don't how many other people have COVID-19 now that they've left them.

Several prisoners were very understandably concerned. One prisoner, his cellie, his bunkie, the guy above him, tested positive, and the guy to his right tested positive.

He's surrounded by COVID-19 positive cases. So he took a plastic chair and moved it away and sat it in. He didn't want to sit in his bunk, because he was being forced to be within 2-3 feet of people who were positive.

The officers came by and told him, "You need to sit on your bunk." He said, "What? Wait. Why? Come on, there's people right there who have COVID-19. I don't want to get COVID-19." They didn't give him an option.

They didn't let him realistically and understandably debate the situation and let him say, "Look, I don't want to sit two feet away from somebody who already has COVID-19.

And they forced him to.

There are dozens of situations like that happened in the last 24 hours, where people were forced to be within close proximity to a COVID-19 positive person. That's what's been going on in the last 24 hours.

They have since, within the last hour or so, rounded up all of the positive people and moved them. We don't know where. We don't know what's happened with them.

There are people in here who are absolutely scared shitless. They don't know what to do.

We're not getting the impression that they're going to offer another round of tests. So, realistically, what they just did was pointless. They rounded up the people who had COVID-19 after making them possibly spread it to everyone in their dorms.

In the last 24 hours, I mean COVID-19 is incredibly contagious, and there's probably dozens more people who have contracted it by being forced to sit next to them. I mean it's just horrible. Out of all the COVID-19 situations I've been in, this is just the worst.

This is a big issue. I can guarantee you that the Department of Corrections is going to sweep this under the rug like, "Oh, it's not a big deal. Oh, everyone in there is exaggerating, they're sensationalizing."

And it's like, "Absolutely not. You left people in a situation that is potentially deadly. For 24 hours."

There are a lot of people in here who are medically vulnerable. There's a gentleman in here named ____, he's like 78 years old.

There's another guy in here who's only got one lung. These people could potentially die because of what the Department of Corrections just did. They had an absolute responsibility to quarantine everyone who was positive, and to move them instantly.

And I can understand, moving 60 prisoners isn't the easiest thing in the world. But they're required to have plans and scenarios set up in advance for this and that's before COVID-19 even happened.

COVID-19 has been going on a year. They should have the ability to act quicker than 24 hours.

If one person dies because of this, I don't want the Department of Corrections to keep getting away with this and swept it under the carpet, as if, "Oh it's not a big deal." Of course it's a big deal!

People have died, people are dying over this shit. It almost seems like a laughing matter for the officers.

The second part of it is, a third of the prisoners here refused to test. I can guarantee you the majority of them have COVID-19. And that's why they did it. They don't want to get locked down. They don't want to be punished for having COVID-19.

The situation here at Santiam is not corrected, they did not fix it, and it's exploding on a dangerously deadly level. I'm trying to bring this out as best I can. There's a lot of people here who are scared.

Not only do we not have the ability to control our situation and keep ourselves safe, they are forcing us into dangerous situations. As in, "No, you cannot distance yourself."

There have been a lot of accusations that social distancing is impossible in jails and prisons. We don't have the ability to do it. This is one step higher.

They are forcing us not to social distance, not with a person who could have COVID-19, but with a person who does have COVID-19.

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