By Julietta Bisharyan and Nick Gardner
BLYTHE, CA –– On May 15, 2020, Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus. A month later, the prison reported 989 cases.
Despite months of warnings and implementations of preventative measures, the prison had tested only 16 people in a building that housed 200.
Timothy Casarez, who is currently incarcerated at CVSP, shared his experiences with the Davis Vanguard, after witnessing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) neglect during the pandemic.
In the beginning, Casarez said that prison officials quarantined the building with a strip of caution tape to keep those infected from the untested population, who were assumed to be healthy despite showing symptoms.
Due to overcrowding, there were no available phones on both sides, which forced infected individuals to swap phones with those presumed to be healthy.
No cleaning or sanitizing occurred during the switch. The uninfected individuals, who slept just three feet away from those positive with the virus, were neither tested nor quarantined.
Those considered healthy and referred to as “negatives,” were moved to other yards, spreading the virus further at the prison. Once they were tested positive, they returned, with some even coming back to the quarantine zone the very next day.
“I’ve been in prison 12 years and never once have I seen so many people moved in so little time,” Casarez says.
On May 23, Casarez was tested for the virus along with seven others in his area. While their test results were pending, they experienced COVID-19 symptoms, including dizziness, headaches and a sore throat.
The next day, they were told that they would be moving to a different yard, as their bunks were needed for the sick population. Casarez asked to speak with the correctional lieutenant and told him that his entire area was sick and had tests pending that were certain to come out positive
“We received the same answer that time: ‘They told us to move you. We have to move you.’ I never found out who ‘they’ were,” adds Casarez.
When all seemed to be at a loss, Casarez decided to refuse movement and filed a grievance. He called his family and friends and told the four officers that he was not going to move. Three other incarcerated persons joined him in his protest.
“To me, it was a thing of conscience. I was not going to knowingly jeopardize other people’s health.”
In all of his years of incarceration, Casarez says he has never received a disciplinary write-up and has always done everything the institution has asked him to do, including non-voluntary transfers. That day, however, he put everything on the line to avoid being moved elsewhere.
“I thank God that one lieutenant heard me out as a person rather than as an inmate, and he kept me in the building.”
The others who were sent to the uninfected yards returned the very next day having tested positive.
Eventually, a test was ordered for every person in the prison, but at that point, about a thousand cases were active, over an area covering less than a square mile.
Since the major outbreak has begun to subside, no major follow-up tests have been performed on the population. Casarez says he still feels symptoms of the virus to this day.
“I fear when the next virus comes to Chuckuwalla, it will follow the same playbook. And once again, it will require a convicted felon to correct the people you pay to keep society safe.”
Regarding accountability, Casarez observes a blame game between those in charge of medical and the officers. He believes that all were involved in the failures of handling the pandemic at CVSP. Should blame continue to be passed, says Casarez, nothing will change.
“When compared to other prisons, CVSP is doing well. But when I mess up, I’m corrected. I accept that. Every good citizen should. Why should the state be any different?”
