Down here in MCI, a C.O., UNIT MANAGER & MAJOR all told a Caucasian inmate that he couldn't wear his "Black Lives Matter," mask. After the Warden said in a memo it just can't be derogatory, so why do these officers get to dictate and impose their personal feelings as law in the definition of the managing officer's words!?! Which here is a cut and paste of the memo sent out;
June 2, 2020
Dear MCI Residents,
Movement to the café for meals is going well. Your cooperation is appreciated. Many of you have decorated your masks. Any decoration must be appropriate and non-inflammatory.
As a reminder, your best defense against the Covid-19 virus is frequent and proper hand washing. Wash your hands often and for at least 20 seconds each time. Social distancing is important, especially at meal pick up times. Visual reminders were placed on the floor for easy reference.
Be sure to clean high traffic areas like door handles, chairs, tables, and telephones in the living areas frequently. Sanitize your space at least twice a day. Cleanliness is everyones responsibility! I will keep you updated as information becomes available.
Sincerely,
Warden
Now as you can see the warden only said "appropriate and non inflammatory," so how do these officers and staff members get to tell us that a slogan stating who matters is inflammatory? Guess they don't think so. I was walking down the hallway and a young African American brother was rapping a little hook, "We say Black Lives Matter, they say All Lives Matter, but why didn't George Floyd's..." He was on the other side of the hallway, going the opposite direction of me and I had a C.O. walking behind me and the Caucasian officer had the nerve to blow out a frustrated breath and say, "Why can't Y'ALL just let him die already!" He said it loud enough that me and the young brother had to take pause, but we both looked at each other, shook our heads and walked on our separate ways. The same officer was overheard asking other officers, "When did we start letting inmates be political and have opinions..." This is the mentality of 85% of the staff here in MCI. We are considered less than human. Oh they will walk upright and for the most part keep their thoughts to themselves and only talk openly in their circles when we're not around, but when they get fed up they will speak openly and dare us to talk back.
Yesterday I was in the chow hall getting my tray and behind the line, talking over our food, with no mask on, was an officer, who is the regular in the chow hall and lickety split quick to write a ticket on an inmate for doing wrong, yet here he is disobeying the warden's mandate to staff and inmates to wear masks, and yet when we write him up, we are told, "The officer was spoken with...!" Then we have to let it go and he still won't wear the mask, waiting for the inmate, who wrote him up, to come around, and he will talk loudly to a coworker, in the vicinity of the inmate, about how these inmates are snitches, a very derogatory name for us convicts, because he was written up and got not even a slap on the wrist. This same officer I am speaking about, held 40 inmates' I.D.s hostage, not allowing them to leave the chow hall after working, because he wanted someone to cleanup a bathroom that had feces and vomit everywhere, after someone was sick from covid-19! He refused to call the blood spill cleanup crew, designated for that type of job. He wouldn't even call medical for proper PPE for the inmate who was sick and tired of being held hostage in the chow hall, after working 8 hrs. 4:30a - 12:30p and volunteered to clean it up. Again he was written up and nothing but a pat on the back and a "Good Job!" from his superiors and we got the boilerplate response, "The officer has been spoken with about this matter!" B.S.
Then the medical dept. has shown more negligence in dealing with this pandemic. An inmate who was deathly ill with Covid-19, and made it back from death's door, after being neglected by the C.O. in the dorm, in the beginning of his illness. Being told to go take a shower and go to bed, while he was wrapped in a towel with feces on him where he defecated on himself, due to the virus making him unable to get out of bed. Then the medical dept. sent him back to the block, TWICE, saying he only had the flu. Then when he passed out in the shower, he was rushed to an outside hospital where he stayed for approx. 3 wks. before being brought back and put in a pod with men who were negative and positive, for a couple weeks. All before being returned to this cell block, where he originated, then after 2 wks. of being back, they took him to medical for a week. They ran tests on him and sent him back to the block, where he tells me, that they told him, "HE STILL HAS A TOUCH OF THE CORONA!" Are they serious, you ask, YES, that's the level of performance from our medical staff here. You either have the virus or you don't, I thought, or am I wrong? Please someone clarify this for me. Cause I sit across from this man all the time on these 3 ft. wide tables and I need to know if there's such a thing as only having, "a touch of the virus," and can I catch it. I have had it twice already and a third time may be the death of me! Wow this is what I have to put up with and yet Dewine and the powers that be, don't want to let anyone go. I filed 6/3 in Cuy. co. I hope and pray I get my shot.
Unfortunately if you go to this site, you'll see where OSU doesn't want them to let us go so they can conduct a study of us. Lab rats that's as high as we rate, to the public! It really sucks.
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