‘THEY WILL LET US DIE IN HERE’

I am 35 years old, born in Mexico but brought to the United States when I was a child. I have been detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center since Jan. 16. I would like to share a few things about my life and the conditions here during this pandemic.

Things have been uneasy and challenging. We had a meeting that was held by the unit manager. She said that one of the officers had tested positive for the coronavirus and was put on medical leave. She warned that there could possibly be more people infected. She said the center was putting new procedures in place for the staff. She said staff members would be getting temperature checks when they came in and out of the building. She also told us to wash our hands often. But yet there were no precautions in place to protect us from the catching the virus.

Officers and staff members were not wearing masks or gloves when coming in or out of the unit. This concerned us because they may have been exposed out in the real world and could bring it in.

Every room was supposed to be wiped down every hour, and that’s what we did. But the problem was there were only two bottles of disinfectant spray and that wasn’t enough to go around.

And among of all of us in the unit, there were three pairs of plastic gloves that had been reused in the unit by different women. They would also give us the same towels to be reused to wipe everything in the bathrooms as well as tables, seats, phones and doorknobs.

We told staff members it was very unsanitary, and they said by spraying the towels with chemicals, the germs would be removed. Many of the women detainees who were cleaning had no gloves and they often ran out of hand soap.

Yet even after the coronavirus reached the detention center, the center kept bringing in new detainees into our pod, and we had no way of knowing if they were tested or sick.

A week after the meeting with our unit manager, we had another meeting where the staff informed us more people were testing positive for the coronavirus. We saw fliers posted warning staff members not to enter certain areas without protective equipment because a pod was infected. From that time on, we saw the staff had masks, gloves and clear glasses, but we didn’t receive any protection. We started making our own masks with T-shirts and sanitary napkins.

Several days later, a staff member came into our unit with a box full of protective masks and some documents. We were only allowed to take the mask after signing a document. The document was in English and most of the women detainees don’t speak or read English. Many refused to sign.

I read the document. It said that Corecivic, the contractor running the detention center, and the federal government would not be responsible if we caught the coronavirus. The ladies asked many questions but were threatened to be taken to solitary confinement or be pepper sprayed for not cooperating.

Many of the women tried to get to the telephones to contact their family members and attorneys, but the staff threatened them. Some of the ladies had panic attacks. It was a total disaster.

Yet another officer came in after that to explain the signed documents were going to be turned over to our lawyers so we would not try to sue the detention center.

The women who were telling others not to sign were taken away to segregation rooms for standing up for their own rights.

Once the virus started spreading, detention center workers kept telling us that they were short of medical staff. They said the only way detainees could see a doctor was if we couldn’t breathe. Many of us were already sick by then, including me.

I had a fever, headache, dizziness, body aches and diarrhea. I would wake up sweating and had fever sores on my lips and a few on my legs. I felt like everything was spinning, and I had back pain and pain in my lungs.

These people are heartless. They don’t care about anyone. They will let us die in here.

We believe the coronavirus was brought into the facility by one of the staff members and now more and more people are testing positive.

I can’t wait for this nightmare to end. I don’t know if my life will ever be the same. I pray to God every day and ask him to please give me the strength to go on, and to please get me out of this place as soon as possible.