by Frederick Mason, USP Tucson in Tucson, AZ
Today, November 24th, I woke up in my cell, in B2 unit USP Tucson, at about 7am as I heard the breakfast trays coming. I got up, reminded that just yesterday, November 23rd, that 18 inmates in B2 tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and had to be moved to B1 along with their property, except their mattresses.
In exchange B1 sent 30 inmates who had not tested positive into B2, since the remaining 75 of us had yet to test positive. Dorms hold up to 128 inmates. Once all the switches were made, the 30 new inmates found that their was still items left in the empty cells and had to be put in the dayroom.
By 4pm, the dayroom of B2 looked like a disaster zone. The CO’s would have a time cleaning it, or so I thought. This morning, I looked out of my cell to see it exactly as it was the day before an absolute mess. Nothing was cleaned up. Everything was still there.
Over a dozen mattresses, all possibly infected because they belong to guys who tested positive. The 30 guys who came in picked them up, because nobody told them that they would be given another mattress and that the ones they were handling were likely COVID-19 infected.
Personal property like plastic chairs, linens, paperback books, as well as trash from all of the Styrofoam trays (some with food in it still) old fruit, packs of bread, soda boxes, empty soda cans, and large trash bags of belongings all piled in the dayroom.
The former occupants of these cells were told they would come back to their cells in 2 weeks, so most felt they could leave some property in the cell.
Now, it’s all over the dayroom like a landfill. All of it is potentially infected with COVID-19 virus. I looked at all this and even noticed a mechanical backpack chemical sprayer on one of the tables, used by some of the incoming inmates to clean the cells, since no officer cared to disinfect the cells.
One officer tried to spray a few cells but after about 4 cells a compound officer told him to stop since they didn’t have time. So 30 inmates who had not tested positive for the virus, were being sent directly into a cesspool of it. With so much trash, one thought the dorm officers would clean it up. It is THEIR dorm. But the officers refused.
“I ain’t cleaning up all this shhh.”
So it sat there. I saw yesterday the lieutenant come in multiple times, to talk to the dorm officers. My guess is he was trying to get them to clean the dorm. Apparently, that failed because the result was clear to see. There was COVID-19 infected trash all over the dayroom at 7:00 in the morning.
It’s clear the officers could not have a care about the seriousness of the situation. B2 was supposed to be housing inmates who did not test positive of the virus, yet in a malicious and ignorant set of events, USP Tucson’s officers clearly refused to ensure clean and safe living conditions for the inmates.
The proof is clearly seen on cameras from 3pm on November 23rd, 2020 to 7am on November 24th, 2020. This, sadly is how lazy and incompetent staff here have treated people at USP Tucson for months during this deadly pandemic.