THE FEDERAL PRISON CAMP RESPONCE TO CORONAVIRUS- LOCKDOWN AND THE BEGINING OF MY JOURNALS FOR COVID 19
On Tuesday March 31, 2020 I was on a 30-minute video visit with my family when I heard the announcement for yard recall. When we hear those announcements, it’s time to go to our housing units and then they count us. It isn’t normal that they do this at random times such as this, so I knew something was going on. The computer I use for video visits is right next to the window and I remember looking out wondering if there was a tornado, it did look a bit ominous.
Announcements like a yard recall at a suspicious time can quickly escalate to panic. Ladies in the room started crying, thinking there was a tornado, because people tend to freak out in storms here; there was no tornado. By the time I had completed my video visit, they had announced they would be counting us, so I went back to my cube. They counted us and then made a quick announcement that we were to stay in our units for 14 days, that we were under a stay in place national order coming from the top of the Bureau of prisons. This is pretty much my journal from week one of this corona virus stay in place nightmare along with some details of our unit and our situation.
At the federal level, many of these ladies have never experienced any kind of lockdown or real incarceration, so for them, this is terrifying. So many already feel helpless and struggle with a lack of control over anything in their life, and this was a real game changer.
Then there are many of us that spent a considerable amount of time in federal holding and had to do what I refer to as “the full tour.” The full tour is where you experience maximum security with regular pat downs, handcuffs, and shackles. Oh and top all that off with a trip on Con Air, the duck taped airline used for human trafficking the federal inmates around. I know I spent a year being locked in a cell and a day room with little freedom. I have been here for almost two years, and with this freedom, that was just a faint memory that came rushing back and I will admit, I felt a little panicked, but convinced myself it just couldn’t be that bad.
We are locked down to our unit. Which means we can still use the phone, email, video visits, take showers, use the restroom, get ice, use hot water, and go to all the TV rooms if it isn’t during count. Our units don’t lock, and we can stand at the front door and open it and breathe fresh air, we just can’t cross the threshold. Yes, that is the kind of crazy criminals we are, you point to a line and we don’t cross.
All meals are brought to the unit and served in threshold containers or paper bags. Commissary sheets are picked up in the morning and then delivered back to the unit one time a week and you may only spend $25. The spend is normally a maximum of $180 for two weeks for a total of $360 a month. The spend revalidates on the first and the 15th of each month. This $25 spend has pushed some of these ladies over the edge and some think they will starve to death. Laundry normally is done twice a week along with sheet and blanket exchange, this will only be once a week during this stay, and it will be picked up and delivered to the unit. For some people that never go outside, this will be quite the vacation. For people like me, that never comes in unless I must, this will be rather trying. Only the small amount of people that work food service, warehouse, and laundry will be let out and that is only for work.
I want to try and explain the details of our living situation the best I can. I will paint you a picture. There are two housing units at this camp, and they are identical. 270 women are divided between the two. When you walk in the front door of either unit, you go through an entry way and through another door. When you come through that door there are 2 chairs and a table against a cinder block wall that separates the common area. Sometimes people read, play games, or just hang out here. You can either go left or right because it all goes in a circle. Let’s go to the right first. You walk past a TV room on your right and one on the left. As you keep walking, you go through another set of doors and then come to a ‘T’ When you turn to the right and look to the right, there are three phones on the wall, then the bathrooms are beyond the phones. There are 4 private showers and 4 private toilets and 4 sinks. After you pass the bathrooms on the left is another TV room. Keep walking forward and you go through another set of doors and into the 100 alley. This alley had 8 cubes on one side of the hall and 8 on the other side. The first room on both the right and the left are handicap rooms and have 2 beds and a little more room for wheelchairs and/or walkers. Then the rest of the rooms are 3 person cubes. Which means there is a set of bunk beds on one side of the cube and a princess bed on the other.
Walking back out of that range and back by the phones you can hang a right again and then on the left is another
bathroom that is identical to the other one. On the right is an office and then there is another set of doors as you move forward. This is 200 alleys and these are all 2 person rooms meaning only 2 beds per cubicle but the exact same number of cubes as the 100 alley (all alleys have 16 cubes).
Leaving this hall and heading out both sets of doors back out into the common area, we will walk on the other side of that cinderblock wall where you first come in. On the other side of the wall, that is just a divider that is maybe 20 feet long, is a hot water tap for cooking, and an ice machine. There is a counter to prepare food and some trash cans too. Walking forward you have another TV room on the left that also has 5 computers for emailing and two computers for video visits. Beyond that room is another set of doors that is identical to the other side of the building. The 300 range has 2 person cubes and the 400 is 3 person cubes. The baths, showers, and phones are all the same. There are 3 offices on that side. One for the case manager, counselor, and psychologist.
So, for 14 days, if you are not warehouse, food services, laundry, or commissary, this is where you will remain. Yes, this is not that small of a space, but it is when there are 135 women cooped up with no breaks and no space from each other, it is going to be difficult. We are blessed in so many ways. Higher security facilities are locked down to their cells and only get out for a shower, phone call, and email when allowed by staff.
This “stay in place” has come down from above and is a nationwide act for the bureau of prisons. It is an emergency and it negates normal guidelines and regulations because there is no plan for something that no one saw coming. We already struggle with feelings of helplessness so this will be interesting. The following is a day by day of what has transpired.
4/1/2020 Wednesday Day 1
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and here we go with the Covid 19 lockdown. I was called out before 6 am to go to work. I figured this would happen this morning, so I had prepared myself for an early morning. I am blessed because my job would be one of the last ones cut. I deal with the entire inventory of food both frozen and dry for both the men’s FCI next door and the women’s Camp. I handle the trucks coming in and send the food to where it needs to go. I love my job and I love to work but today was a whole new level of gratitude to get out of the unit. No one knows how to handle this situation, because no one has ever been through this. There are a lot of wild cards to deal with. I knew it was going to be a ton of hard work and it was so nice to get lost in it, and not be focused or worried on what tomorrow will bring.
To go to work I had to stop at medical and have my temperature taken along with the other warehouse, commissary, food service, and laundry workers. We must do this on our way back before entering the unit.
Coming back from work I am shocked at the staff coming in and out of our units. It seems so unnecessary and they have no mask or gloves. I have seen more staff in this short amount of time than the 2 years I have been here. I sat down to write and listen to the news and I am in disbelief and find it hard to watch as cases seem to be getting closer and we have absolutely no way to social distance ourselves and no say in the people coming in and out. I fight off my feelings and lose myself in my writing.
One of my friends is over 60 and has been battling to go home on the 60 and over provision of the first step act. All along she was told no and that it would never happen. She had given up. Today she was told she is going home and given a date of April 15th, 14 days away. The day after our “stay” will supposedly be over. Change is on the horizon, but it’s hard to wrap my brain around what that will look like. There will be no busses running to take her home to Arkansas, so her family is working on plane tickets.
4/2/2020 Thursday Day 2
I was called out early in the morning to work and spent the day at the warehouse. It is my solitude and I would love to just stay down there, but I can’t. As work has ended and the nurse was waiting on us to take temps, I drag my feet and dread every step that gets closer to the unit. As I come in my two die hard workout buddies are covered in sweat and working out in the vestibule. They are smiling and happy and it is really a great scene to walk into. They have been at it all day. I quickly go to my cube and put ear plugs in and get my emailing and phone calls made, and then retreat to my cube until after the 4 pm count.
After counting, I go into the activity room to write and watch the news. I see people on the news outside exercising and hear the reports encouraging people to get some fresh air. I feel sorry for all these ladies that have only made it through 2 days of this. We are packed in here like sardines. The windows don’t open and only the front door is open for a tiny breeze. I hear the news castors begging people to practice social distancing and think to myself how impossible that is where I am. It is just so hard to see the end from the beginning. People are
nervous and full of fear. I realize only a small dose of the news is all I need.
4/3/2020 Friday Day 3
I was called in around 6:30 am to work. I am comforted in seeing the frozen and dry food going out and not just lockdown food and supplies. It helps me to not have to wonder about that. Coming home from work was even harder knowing that I would be locked in the unit until Monday morning without a single break outside. It made my walk depressing. They are playing recreation movies nonstop for the camp. Today is Jumanji II and I decided to go in and watch. I needed some entertainment.
When I first got back a friend was telling me that they had started to see stories on the news that the prison system would need to start letting people go and clearing out some of these camps were so many of us are minimums. Of course, that is amazing to hear as an inmate, so the emotions were through the roof. I do my best not to get my hopes up. She told me that administration had come in right around noon and announced to not listen to the TV or family members, to only believe what you hear from them. I will admit, the energy was very different upon my walk through the front doors.
Around 2pm the administration came in for a town hall meeting. They announced that the FIRST list had come down from the central office and if our name was on it, we were to see the case manager. They were clear that this was only the first and there was more to come. This incredibly predictable world was no longer even predictable, and this created chaos. I went back to see the list along with a herd of all the other women. There were around 20 names on the board. All were minimum security and risk assessment levels, but other than that they were all over the place. Some were drug cases with plenty of time left on their sentence, somewhere white collar with more than 5 years left on their sentence. The only common denominator was they are minimums.
These lucky folks were told to come back to see their case manager and asked if they had a place to go and a way to get there. Enter the mass exodus hysteria. There were no guarantees given, just that possibility, but that was a real big deal around here. I couldn’t help but wonder if this crazy corona virus was going to bring some serious change to the prison system.
4/4/2020 Saturday day 4
I have become hypervigilant with worry anticipating what each day will bring. I know I must harness these feelings and make sure they are geared toward this being more of an adventure and stay hopeful and not fall into despair and disappointment. Since this is the weekend, I found myself thinking there probably wouldn’t be any more updates or changes until Monday and I felt some relief. Then this afternoon the officers asked us to go back to our assigned bunks. I found myself about to lose my mind, terrified they were going to make our tiny world even smaller in some way. They came and passed out masks and told us we were always to wear them for 14 days if we weren’t in our cubicles, even for video visits. I was just relieved I was still able to have my video visit that night.
The guards have the option to wear the masks as of right now and the majority are opting not to wear it. I can’t say this makes much sense, as they would be the ones infecting us with the virus and germs from the outside world. This is a concern for a lot of people here.
I spent my afternoon focusing on my blessings and counting them out loud. I know how blessed I am to have contact with family on phone, video visits, and email. I am grateful to have the freedom to move around, food to eat and a bed to sleep in. And the fact that I had hit the ground running as soon as I touched the prison ground working every hour that I could possibly get and programming as much as possible, that as well as my nonexistent criminal history, made me a minimum, and that makes me happy.
4/5/2020 Sunday day 5
The nurses came in to deliver pills for the pill line crew this morning. They didn’t have masks on and wondered why we were wearing ours.
Breakfast was served then lunch and dinner. The guard asked for volunteers to take the trash out and I ran out in my flip flops with my arms flailing about. I have never been so happy to deal with smelly trash in my entire life. I will do anything for a trip outside at this point.
I can’t wait to go back to work tomorrow and I can’t help but feel bad for most people locked up that will be stuck in their cages. I can tell people are starting to lose track of the days and some have altered their sleep to stay up all night and sleep all day. This was always popular in federal holding and has caught on quickly for survival here. It’s like people have gone on rotation to be up while another group sleeps.
4/6/2020 Monday day 6
Thank God for work, and there was a lot of work to do. While the menus have changed to accommodate Styrofoam containers for this corona crisis and different inventory was needed, we spent most of the day loading skids, loading trucks, and working to organize an overabundance of inventory. It was a great day. The sun was beautiful, and the birds were entertaining. I was so grateful to be out and working.
Coming back to the dorms was absolutely dreaded. When I came in there was a buzz about another list coming down from above. People were posted in the front and refused to move. The camp manager had thought he would be back with another list and left and then came back to inform us that nothing else was happening right now. I love roller coasters and I feel bad comparing this to that. I think this is maybe more like a train wreck. The tensions are high, and people are having some bad meltdowns. The possibility of movement is more than a lot of us can bear.
I go to watch the news during my writing session and learned about more cases filling the prisons and jails, and I
I can’t help but wonder if we are sitting ducks. There are still no cases here, thank God. If there is one thing I have learned about the bureau of prisons, it’s that they move at a glacial pace. In case some people aren’t aware, the first step act was signed almost a year and a half ago and has barely been implemented. If it is left up to the bop to clear out these prisons, it will not happen, as I watch on the news, they recommend 1 person per 120 feet.
So, anyone with a loved one incarcerated, it might be time to use your voice. Without some public outrage, the prisons will never be cleared out. The bop is not in the business of getting people out of prison. And while we wait, people are getting crazier. Some people are packing their bags and giving their stuff away. Others are having uncontrollable crying fits of fear that they will die here. I have seen fear, but this is different.
4/7/2020 Tuesday, Day 7
Another full day of work and full of gratitude for getting some outside time. Upon arriving back in the unit, I was told everyone was waiting on a town hall meeting with the administration. They did come, but I can’t say it was helpful. We were informed that the makeshift quarantine building across the parking lot will be for people leaving. Anyone on their way out must quarantine for 14 days over there. What we have been doing is not considered a quarantine, just a “stay.” This means the people scheduled for an outdate in the next few days or week will be held up even longer to accommodate this new quarantine rule. This means my friend that was supposed to leave on the 15th will have to get new plane tickets and change flights for a later date. Then they told us the original list of people were only being considered. Emotions are already out of control and everyone wants off this carousel.
Watching the local news, we know how high the numbers of infected and deaths of surrounding areas are and our concern grows. If it does make its way here, I just can’t imagine.
So, this is just the first week. Stay tuned for week number 2.
