Ivan: So this is what social distancing look like inside of prisons. As you can see in the day room of the facility I’m at, and as you can notice there’s a number of inmates freely walking about in the day room. So all it takes is just one person in here to become infected with the Coronavirus, and it’s a wreck. Everybody’s going to be affected.
All it takes is for one person to come into this environment that’s infected and boom, you got a crisis on your hands. And my biggest concern is it’s not so much getting it from the prisoners, it’s getting it from the correctional staff. Well, I’ve been informed that they are being screened each day as they walk in. This is not one of those things where you can just simply ask if someone has symptoms and clear them to come into work into a dense-populated area.
Interviewer: If you started feeling some of the COVID-19 symptoms, how long would it take you to see a doctor?
Ivan: They have a nurse just visiting the building every day, and the problem with that is I think for most prisoners, they would be afraid to report that because it automatically is going to result to them being isolated in the hall. The commissary don’t sell nothing to jail. You hear me? In terms of disinfectant, as a matter of fact, they have limitations on the number of soap that you can buy.
I think you just answered the question to one of the biggest considerations. So on paper, it looks good when you look at what their protocols are for this, they’re talking about- they’re passing out extra soap, they’re doing extra cleaning, that they’re passing out disinfectants of this type and sort.
Yeah, that’s not the reality in here. This is what’s happening right now, inside the California Department of Corrections. We’re sitting ducks in here.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)