Contagious Virus, American Prison
By Sam Lewis
The public conversation around COVID-19 has caused me to reflect on the time I contracted the norovirus. It was approximately ten years ago, and I was at Soledad State Prison in California.
Word was going around that the norovirus illness was spreading across other prisons in the state. Everyone was worried, and everyone was getting sick. Wing by wing we were quarantined. I remember we did everything we could to stay healthy. I disinfected my cell with cleaning supplies that were hard to come by. Because these supplies were not readily available, we had to be creative in how we obtained them. I avoided the chow hall, eating only what I had purchased myself through the canteen. I washed my hands constantly; I did everything I could think of, but it wasn’t enough.
In the middle of the night, I became violently ill. It was like an extreme case of food poisoning, with stomach pain and convulsions worse than I had ever experienced before.
The night officer said that there was nothing he could do to help me. I felt like I had been left to suffer. The following morning, I was told that I still had to wait to see a doctor; that wait took two days. During that time, without access to medical care, I felt more hopeless than ever. I felt like I was going to die. I remember thinking, “even animals are treated better than this.” We were quarantined. Visitation was cancelled, we had no access to phones, and mail, the lifeblood for many incarcerated, was delayed by weeks. I remember not wanting to write home because I did not want my family to be infected. When the doctors came, they told me that nothing could be done.
I survived the norovirus, but the experience still haunts me. I spent 24 years in prison. Each day was horrible, but the worst and most inhumane days were when someone got sick and there was nothing we could do to protect ourselves or each other.
We are now experiencing a global pandemic — the first in a century, one that spreads quickly, and can require advanced medical care. Physicians around the world are racing to understand this illness. I worry about those now trapped inside prisons and jails with no way out. As of today, 17 individuals incarcerated in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) have tested positive for COVID-19. This is in addition to the 55 employees of CDCR and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) who have also tested positive for COVID-19. A probation officer who works at the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, California has tested positive for the coronavirus and 21 youth are now quarantined.
Whether through television, letters, or visits (before visits were shut down), the men, women and young people incarcerated throughout California are also aware and worried. They are likely hearing everyone advise “social distancing,” and asking themselves, “how can we do social distancing when we are trapped in cages with thousands of other people?” Indeed, it is absurd advice to those forced to live in very tight quarters with thousands of others.
Prisons and jails are overcrowded and ill-equipped to meet the needs of the older and immunocompromised people for whom proper medical care will be a matter of life or death. Compassionate and decisive action is needed to protect the men, women and young people inside the carceral facilities throughout California, and the communities to which many are actively returning as I write this.
Voices of advocacy, community based and health organizations across California are urging government leaders to act immediately to protect the lives of those who are currently incarcerated in our jails and prisons, so that we can work together as a community to keep all Californians safe and healthy. This includes a plan for compassionate release for elderly people, those with serious underlying health conditions, and those housed in pre-trial detention that do not pose a public safety risk, and to ensure that CDCR has a plan for how they will adequately care for people who are incarcerated during this challenging time.
Under California Government Code section 8550, the Emergency Services Act, Governor Newsom has the power to immediately release people from prisons and thus work to mitigate the spread of this disease. In 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger used these powers to immediately reduce prison overcrowding in California. Many people in prison, especially those who were expecting to be released soon anyway, have families or other housing options waiting for them on the outside, and those who don’t may be released to parole and reentry housing. Community organizations are coming together to plan and prepare for this possibility.
The health, well-being, and lives of incarcerated people are in the hands of decision-makers like governors and local leaders. I know from first-hand experience that a person in prison can do everything possible to protect themselves from the spread of disease, but it’s never enough — prisons are over-crowded and lacking in the necessary resources. In the outside world, we have the ability to self-quarantine, sanitize our spaces, and seek medical care when necessary, and it’s still an uphill battle. Inside, it’s an impossible battle, and one that many can’t afford. This is a time to take exceptional care under exceptional circumstances. We will support government leaders in taking the bold, but necessary, action now to protect the health of every Californian, including our most vulnerable.
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Sam Lewis is the Executive Director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC). A former life prisoner himself, Sam understands the various obstacles, challenges, and difficulties the prison and reentry populations face in our world. In 2017, Sam created the Hope and Redemption Team (HART), a group of nine former California life prisoners who go back into California state prisons to provide hope, demonstrate that redemption is achievable, and to prepare participants for successful reentry into our communities. Since coming home from prison in 2012, Sam completed his BS/BA degree from Indiana Institute of Technology, having completed the majority of this degree while incarcerated. Sam has been the recipient of a Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, an Uncommon Law Uncommon Heroes award, and the DangerMan Hero award for Outstanding Advocate for Prison Reform.
