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Joseph Cook 436664 KMCI 101220Our MATC classes are interfered with. Until all unnecessary movement was suspended we visited our loved ones through Zoom. Stress levels are increased, anxiety is up and frustration is palpable. We are a microcosm of society with 1,100 people incarcerated here at KMCI Covid has shut most operations down. According to an article published by Diana Dombrowski from the Sheboygan Press out of the 1,100 men incarcerated here 2 out of 3 of us has tested positive for Covid. With only ten cases in early September one would think preventive measures would have been taken. Which wasn't the case. By late September, the number of Covid cases spiked from 10 to over 500 in just a few short weeks. Surprising? If society at as a whole aren't capable of properly preventing and containing the outbreak of Covid, should we expect more from prisons? Prisons are arguably the worst institutions in America, and KMCI response to this pandemic has been one of the worse responses."Their preventive measures and containment measures were inadequate." Al Carter who tested positive for Covid told me. "In the beginning when face masked were mandated by the Governor these officers mocked the idea of wearing a face mask. And most of the supervisors and unit supervisors did too. They didn't start wearing mask until it was too late. They didn't take prevention seriously." He goes on to say that KMCI also did a poor job in containing the virus."They allowed positives to remain cellies with negatives. Then we are all touching the same toilets, sinks, door handles, spray bottles. Positives should have continued to be quarantined on isolated units designed just for positive cases." Mr. Hamilton who tested positive remarked that after he tested positive he didn't receive medical attention until 6 days after he was told he was positive. And once he did see the nurses he was told to gurgle salt for his soar throat, and was given the option of either Ibuprofens or Tylenol to deal with his headaches. With over 500 positive cases it's impossible for the medical staff here to treat everybody properly. The numbers, the ratio of positive cases and medical staff won't allow each individual to receive proper care.After watching my 61 year old cellmate wrestle with Covid, I was told on October 8th that I'm positive. I have no symptoms, and have continued to function normally. Although my cellie isn't positive no more, and I'm now positive the lingering symptoms are still in his system. He had a head cold for two weeks after his quarantine period was over. He keep asking me is it possible to catch Covid twice, cause last time it started with a head cold. A question that would of been more appropriate for the medical staff, if he was seen by them after his 14 day quarantine.In addition to inadequate medical care. Our mental health care isn't being attended to. Prison within themselves are highly stressful and depressing places, with Covid the stress and depression have only increased. Most guys, including myself, who depends on fresh are, interaction with others, lifting weights, and just being active as a form of reducing stress doesn't have those options. Some guys share only negative tension with their cellies, and to be locked in now for weeks in counting does nothing to help with the mental anguish they are experiencing. No psychologist, or mental health doctors are available on the uints which only puts an extra burden on officers who are forced to be many things in one; even though, they don't have the qualifications. Some officers juggle this role gracefully others resentfully, begrudgingly, negatively. Lately supervisors, or white shirts, have been on units for hours on it. Managing, supervising, observing. While their presence might reinforce authority, guys really need mental health experts on units for hours on in. Or any presence capable of answering questions truthfully and reassure us of some since of normally. Supervisors deal with problems concerning us inmates by sending us to the hole, or dishing out some form of punishment. Actually solving problems? We don't view supervisors as problem solvers. So our questions, our frustrations, our concerns aren't directed toward them like they would be if trust existed. And the opportunity to reassure and calm that real leaders are capable of during chaotic times are missed by the lieutenants, captains, unit supervisors and the administration staff as a whole.Just how a large portion of society distrust Trump, or Biden. We too distrust our administration and the information they provide concerning Covid.Unlike society who will go back to their normal lives, after Covid prisons will remain a hot bed for systemic racism. Systemic racism and not Covid is the illness that plagues KMCI and the WI DOC as a whole. The symptoms to this disease are the officers lack of basic dignity and respect for us incarcerated. Another symptom is an officers ability to write a conduct report based on a perceived, and not an actual threat to the prison's security operations. Some officers make up rules as they go. A white security director will approve the conduct report, a white supervisor will oversee the conduct report hearing and will nine times out of ten find us guilty. When appealing to the warden, who is also white, we will be denied any form of justice most of the time. When white people create the culture, when the policies and procedures of an institution are applied with harmful affects to non whites that's literally one definition of white supremacy. In KMCI being White and not an inmate is the only qualifier that insures you the power to negatively affect inmates lives with no intervention from their colleagues.Not all the staff are like this. The teachers Mr. Lesee, Mrs. Pohlman, Mr. Galvan all have safe learning places in their classroom. But once you step out of their classes C.O Doyle is right their. Writing conduct reports for more perceived wrongs then actual wrongs. After so many complaints Doyle was recently removed from her post in the school hall way and is now staffed in solitary confinement. For guys like Mr. Parker who was cutting hair as a license barber in the school hallway, her removal does little to correct the wrongs done to him. After she wrote him several conduct reports that her co worker even disagreed with he quit cutting hair. Cutting hair was the reason he came to KMCI. Others who were sent to the hole by her or harassed by her see her removal as too little too late. Officers like Tank, Mrs. H, Henchel, Heinrich, Ms. Baker, Officer Lamb and Sergeant Lamb, are the forerunners for officers who weren't taught proper manners by their parents or received proper training by the DOC on how to interact with us incarcerated men. The previously named officers along with the system in place that encourages, promotes, welcomes, and legitimizes their attempts ( I use the verb attemtps to show that they aren't successful in degrading and dehumanizing us, their attempts only degrades and reduces their own humanity) all need to be looked into with the same concern, empathy, and worry applied to Covid. In addition to getting a handle on Covid, we as a society have to get a handle on mass incarceration from the beginning: school to prison pipeline; to the middle, the judiciary process; and e end incarceration. Unlike Covid mass incarceration is a disease that we created, and that we have the cure for.John Washington 269233 RCI10/13/2020 ................
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