Oregon Prison Report: Voices from the Inside "The people t…

“...and yet still in segregation."

(Testimony from Critical Resistance PDX's (@CR_PDX) Write Them All Campaign)

Snake River Correctional Institution (SRCI) / November 17, 2020.

#ODOCKills #KateBrownKills #FreeThemAll

COVID-19

If you are reading this I'm probably in Segregation as we speak because the inmates aren't necessarily allowed to tell you this, a lot of my homies were transferred to a different prison or put in solitary confinement for saying what's been going on here.

Let me start off by saying that this prison is currently and will continue to be a Coronavirus hotspot. Almost for the past year it has been.

At the beginning of this pandemic, due to our childish president, this pandemic wasn't treated with the emergency, urgency, and caution it needed. As you know Snake River is almost 25 minutes away from Boise, Idaho (if you drive fast).

Boise has been on and off a hotspot for COVID-19 due to the stupidity of the people and the Governor. Over 75% of our staff live in Boise.

The staff were given instructions, which if not followed put 3,500 inmates at risk. Almost 90% didn't follow.

Even the Corporals, LT's, and Sergeants didn't follow the CDC guidelines or institution rules. In the middle of April a major outbreak occurred and we went into lockdown. Cancelling all out of cell activities. We were on lockdown for about a month and a half.

They gave us cold sack lunches for about 3 and a half weeks which is super illegal, but they didn't care. We went on a hunger strike and then we finally got hot meals. They let us buy commissary but limited it to $20.

At this point they mandated masks and got us in trouble when we didn't wear it, but continued not to wear masks themselves. They never followed social distancing. Ever.

Only time they wear masks is when they're around food, like a kitchen or serving you a tray through a hole in segregation.

ODOC SUCKS

SNAKE RIVER SUCKS

The people that were suspected of organizing the hunger strike in April are currently in segregation under bullshit rule violations, being held illegally, having their outgoing mail seized, and are being refused their property...

...and yet still in segregation. Some were transferred to other prisons, some are still in Administrative Segregation, some were even given a $7,000 fine.

And also, people suspected of having COVID are rolled up and thrown in an isolation cell for 14 days or more, having their incentive level deducted even though they committed no major violation.

PRISON HAS FAILED US.

It's not about rehabilitation anymore, just punishment.

DEER RIDGE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION

Anonymous inmate from DRCI:

"Deer Ridge minimum due to fires in the valley, they moved all of the Coffee Creek women's prison and men's intake to DRCI.

They moved us to old minimum. There was no phones, some units had no beds or bunks, most were sleeping on the floor."

1 hr and a half of recreation yard, there were 5 phones outside for over 700 inmates outside at the same time.

Nobody was doing social distancing, nobody had masks. LT on duty told inmates that "We are not worried about everyone getting COVID-19, it's over with."

After yard, breakfast wasn't served until noon! Dinner wasn't served until 10:30 @ night. Whole minimum was filled with smoke.

Yard was cancelled due to smoke from fires, but vents were blowing in smoke from outside.

We couldn't fucking breathe.

4 people fell unconscious due to smoke inside building. Then L unit said "Fuck it, let's go outside. We can't breathe."

Without staff permission, worried for our lives, we ran outside and told other units to join. People started coming outside and rioting, breaking stuff, pulling fire alarms.

We told officers we would come back in if they changed the vent air filters and instead of 2 meals we want 3, and phones in all units. Everything died down, but on the 15th of September, STM (Security Threat Management) came and started pulling out random inmates at gunpoint...

...and shipping them out to medium. 31 were shipped out and only 4 or 5 got Disciplinary Reports. Currently still waiting to be shipped back to a minimum. I'm in a medium prison while minimum custody. Was in the hole for 45 days with no DR. Please spread the word."

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