Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone across the globe, but it has disproportionately impacted those who are the most vulnerable in our society. As of June 2021, nearly half a million inmates and staff in prisons have been infected by the COVID-19 virus in the United States (US) (Park et al., 2021). This equates to approximately three in 10 people in state and federal prisons getting COVID-19, but many correctional health experts believe the true number is higher. Strikingly, the COVID-19 case rate in prison is about three times the national rate.
This tragic loss of life has revealed that prisons have been unprepared to tackle the pandemic, with crowded conditions and substandard medical care across centres. The pandemic has shone a light on widespread violations of human rights plaguing prisons, as many have limited access to personal protective equipment and proper sanitation and live in excessive solitary confinement (Amnesty International, 2021).
In the state of California in the US, COVID-19 has surged across the overcrowded prison system (The Sacramento Bee, 2021). Many inmates and families have struggled with the California Department of Corrections and reported its failures to prevent and control outbreaks. In our case study, we will share revealing insights from Ishmael, a 43-year-old inmate currently serving a Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) sentence in Californian state prison. He provided written informed consent.
Ishmael’s Story
Ishmael tells us of his tragic story in the earlier part of his life, from his tumultuous childhood to the crime he committed at the age of 22. He reports experiencing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and feeling a lack of belonging from his neighborhood: “When my mother was pregnant with me, my father pushed her down a flight of stairs with the intent of aborting me. I was born into a world feeling unwanted and abandoned by my father. My mother, who raised me on her own, did all that she could to raise me to be a good person. However, she struggled to show me love and affection. Growing up, my mother rarely hugged me or told me that she loved me. She loved me in the best way that she could.”
“My childhood was riveted with internal confusion; I just did not know who I was”
I felt as if I was living in two separate worlds, two worlds that I could not reconcile together, the Black world I lived in and the White and Asian world I was bused to school in. It was around this same time that my mom started attending a predominantly white church; there were only
About five black families attended the church. Some crisis of identity was amplified.”
Ishmael was around ten years old when he struggled with these intense feelings of identity. It was also the time that a neighbor’s 16-year-old grandson who was visiting from New York molested him. At the time, Ishmael stated he did not know what had happened to him was wrong – it was years later, he realized what had happened was wrong, but he had already taken on immense shame.
According to Ishmael, this shame that he took on led him to take on hyper-masculine behaviors. He played football for his high school and became the hardest tackler on the freshman team. He strove to be the hardest hitter (tackler), “but this still was not enough to drown out the voices of shame that [he] constantly heard telling [him] that, ‘I was not a man, that I was less than a man.’” This led to Ishmael becoming involved with a gang and criminal activity, as he wanted to prove to himself that he was a man.
“At the time, I thought I was trying to prove to my friends, my enemies, and the world that I was a man. But in reality, I was trying to prove to my ten-year-old self that I was sexually abused that I was now big enough and tough enough to protect him.”
Ishmael states he continued into his “misguided pursuit of masculinity,” which resulted in his involvement of pimpin’ (human trafficking).
“It was at this point that my life began to completely spiral out of control. While I was engaged in human trafficking, I got involved with a carjacking that led to the tragic death of an innocent man. While I was not the individual who committed the actual murder, I am still morally responsible for my choice to live a criminal lifestyle that eventually culminated in the loss of innocent life. For my role in this horrific crime, I was sentenced to Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) in a California, USA state prison. I was 19 at the time that the Crime happened. I was 22 when I was sent to prison to serve an LWOP sentence. Although California has since changed its laws, now stating it will prevent individuals who did not commit the murder from being found guilty of murder, most California Courts have yet to recognize this amendment. This is another example of the injustice of the California justice system, which disproportionally impacts people of color. Almost 3/4 of people who have LWOP are people of color, and half of those people were 19 or younger when they committed the crimes.”
Present Day
Decades have now passed. As of April 2021, Ishmael is 43 years old and is staying in the male-only state prison, California Medical Facility (CMF), in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following sections describe how the pandemic has ravaged the correctional system, his current circumstances, and his reflections.
COVID-19 Situation at CMF
Ishmael reports that CMF managed the COVID-19 situation relatively well in the first several months. He believes that this was due in part to the close relationship between prison officials and the Inmate Advisory Council (IAC).
However, the situation began to worsen after the Governor visited the facility. Shortly after his visit, there were several attempted transfers where inmates were transferred from another prison that was experiencing an outbreak to CMF. The IAC and the Inmate Family Council (IFC) were able to stop these transfers. In November 2020, at the direction of the Secretary’s office, inmates from prisons experiencing an outbreak were transferred into CMF. Furthermore, staff at the facility disregarded physical distancing rules, held office parties, and then returned to housing units, which contributed to the spread of COVID-19. On December 18, 2020, COVID-19 “spread like wildfire,” according to Ishmael – four positive cases increased to over 40 cases in a single day. By the end of the month, there were over 400 positive cases, culminating in a total of nearly 700 positive cases.
Ishmael states that the pandemic has “decimated social relations and social support networks.” Due to the pandemic, it has been difficult for him to be around the people who can support him emotionally and mentally, and he also cannot support them. Furthermore, social activities are nearly impossible to partake. Activities that were allowed before the pandemic, such as chess, cards, and board games, we're no longer allowed due to physical distancing rules. Exercise is allowed, but inmates must wear masks and physical distance. Ishmael states that “COVID-19 has caused people to become more physically, mentally, and emotionally isolated.”
Reaching out to family and friends is permitted for some inmates at CMF, but there are several barriers to get over, which the pandemic has now exacerbated. Individuals are allowed to make a 15-minute phone call every three to four days; however, some have to decide whether to make a call or a shower. Contact visits have not started since the pandemic began. Ishmael states that “COVID-19 has made it near impossible to maintain family relationships.”
Ishmael notes that the pandemic has worsened the racism experienced by individuals in prison, “The pandemic has emboldened prison officials to become more punitive and anti-rehabilitation.” He states that some correctional officers wear symbols of White Supremacy, including the Proud Boys, Don’t Tread on Me, Punisher Skulls, and Bills of Rights.
Ishmael’s Health and Wellbeing
Even though Ishmael has recovered from COVID-19, he still feels the residual effects of COVID-19. He experiences brain fog, fatigue, and body/muscle aches.
Ishmael reports suffering from anxiety, long-term depression, and trauma. In December, he was the victim of a racially motivated attack when he was treated for COVID-19 in the isolation dorm. The pandemic has intensified his past trauma and worsened his mental health. He states that his health and wellbeing concerns are being overlooked and marginalized in the correctional system.
“There is inadequate access to mental health, medical, and dental treatment. COVID-19 has given them an excuse for the already poor mental health, medical, dental treatment that was occurring prior to COVID-19. For instance, I have suffered from asthma since my childhood; however, in 2019, before the pandemic, I was taken off all asthma treatment and monitoring. This affected the way medical viewed my risk assessment. I was taken off to save money. There are too many individuals incarcerated in California to provide adequate medical, dental, and mental health services.”
Ishmael’s Reflections and Insights
Ishmael describes everyday life as follows: “It's like trying to catch your breath when it's difficult to breathe.” When asked how he is currently doing, he says: “I am straddling the fence between hope and hopelessness, faith and despair, joy and sadness. I was, by nature, an optimistic person. However, I have experienced so much loss and a justice system that is completely unjust when it comes to people of color. So, I just feel plain tired, mentally and emotionally.”
The US has the largest prison population in the world and also the highest per-capita incarceration rate. According to the Human Rights Watch and other international and domestic human rights groups, the US prison system is ridden with human rights violations through excessive control of individual behaviour, social control of marginalized groups, use of solitary confinement, and more (Human Rights Watch, n.d.). Ishmael provided his insights on what he would like to see changed in the US prison system.
“The prison system, especially in the United States, needs to take on an incentive-based/trauma-informed approach to rehabilitation. Incentive-based/trauma-informed rehabilitation is where you structure incarceration based on three levels: maximum (where you are considered prone to violence and refuse to participate in rehabilitative programs, a very restricted environment), medium (this is where you start your time off, you will have access to multiple rehabilitative programs, and be in a less restrictive environment), minimum (is a minimally restrictive environment, access to all the rehabilitative programming possible, a measure of freedom that prepares you for re-entry back into the community).”
We sincerely thank Ishmael for his contributions to this article.
Stay tuned for more collaborative pieces with James S. H. Wong and Jameel Coles in future VAT issues.
