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2/ The coronavirus has rocked prisons nationwide. At the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF), building 503 is the quarantine unit that was created when officials began to safeguard against the coronavirus. It has 100 beds for isolation.pic.twitter.com/puE2IVDLMd
3/ Kandice Ortega is one of the nine people The 19th interviewed who are incarcerated at CCWF. She was moved to 503 after her roommate tested positive for COVID in mid-July, however, she said she never tested positive for the coronavirus.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
4/ Like many, Ortega worried about getting COVID-19. But unlike much of the country, Ortega had few options to limit her exposure. After multiple negative COVID tests, she said she remained in the quarantine unit for weeks. Would she inevitably be infected too?pic.twitter.com/TNTCxQbToY
5/ Nearly half of the people The 19th interviewed live with pre-existing conditions that put them at heightened risk for complications of COVID-19. All described dirty, unsafe conditions that left them wondering if their lives will end in prison.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
6/ When she was in 503, Laura Purviance said she spent all but two hours of the day in her cell — quarantine felt similar to solitary confinement, she told The 19th. Purviance claimed she was kept in 503 despite never receiving a COVID-19 test.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
7/ While there, Purviance said she noticed leaking pipes and partially collapsed sections of the ceiling, which she believed is because of a ventilation system in disrepair. In the hot prison, people were not wearing their masks appropriately, she said. https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL pic.twitter.com/teoyP8HFyh
8/ In mid-August, after The 19th submitted questions to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), those incarcerated inside CCWF said administrators began sending people who had tested negative back to their assigned housing.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
9/ Lt. Gene Norman, a public information officer for the department, denied that people who had negative COVID tests were ever housed among sick people. CDCR also maintains that it is following safety protocols, denying that prisoners are living in dirty or dangerous situations.
10/ According to data from Oct. 9, 16 incarcerated people have contracted the virus at CCWF. There have also been 45 confirmed cases among prison staff, and one death.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
11/ In a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Elizabeth Lozano wrote that she was forced to attend a drug re-entry program that exposed her to the virus. She tested negative for COVID-19 three times in two weeks, but continued to be kept in 503.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
12/ Lozano, 45, suffers from asthma, lupus, neuropathy, a heart condition and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an inflammatory lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL pic.twitter.com/7ZajyZZXPH
13/ The pandemic has also been especially stressful for many trans people in prison. Mychal Concepcion, a 50-year-old trans man, has spent 22 years at CCWF. Overwhelmingly, prisoners are housed according to their gender assigned at birth, like Concepcion.https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
14/ On July 24, Concepcion went into quarantine in 503. The virus has exacerbated power dynamics in the prison, he said. Because he is trans, staff treat him like he's disposable, he said, like it doesn't matter if he contracts the virus. Staff misgender and demean him.pic.twitter.com/5mreo3vVey
15/15 All of the people The 19th interviewed are now out of 503. But there are lasting impacts for some.
And the fear — of getting the virus, landing back in 503 — is ever present.
More from @keaux_ and @shoeleatherkate:https://bit.ly/2IdZ8HL
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