PRISON PANDEMIC UPDATE # 2: Antisocial Distancing

Dateline: Wednesday, April 22, 2020--Tomoka C. I.--Daytona Beach, FL

Seventy prisoners crowded into an ''open dorm'' housing area have no way to practice social distancing. Two nurses still come through twice a day taking temperatures. Our dorm has remained stable, until this past Saturday.

Two dorms, including this one, remained asymptomatic. Then after lunch Saturday the guards came in and ordered everyone to pack, transferring, put your shampoo and soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, one underclothing change, one uniform, in a pillowcase. No canteen, no Bibles, no pens, paper or stamps, no books, no other personal property besides our tablets.. All other property stored until we return from a distant North Florida prison. Because those two dorms were free of the coronavirus, we were being shipped out. Turns out the other prison didn't want us. Too bad.

Before we got on the transport bus, a prisoner ''fell out,'' unconscious. The nurses took him to medical, then called to cancel the transfer, said we were now under medical quarantine. Turned out that an elderly prisoner in our dorm had tested positive, and the results fortuitously came back before we boarded the bus. We returned to our dorm, dodging the transfer bullet.

The second dorm tagged for transfer wasn't so lucky. They packed into another bus, their pillowcases thin, and sent to another prison in the north. Although asymptomatic, the other prison immediately invoked a 14-day quarantine, confining them to another ''open dorm,'' with none of their authorized personal property. They are isolated with virtually nothing. More family complaints are ensuing, for what good it will do.

I mentioned a few days ago that we were getting bag lunches of mostly peanut butter sandwiches three times a day. It seems that was a statewide practice, and prisoners' families and friends protested to other officials, claiming that all that dry peanut butter created widespread constipation.

The complaints worked. For several days, peanut butter was off the menu, replaced by turkey bologna and cheese sandwiches, and hot evening meals of mystery meat patties, rice and carrots. Today, at lunch, the disparaged peanut butter sandwiches returned.

Monday, Tomoka's first fatality was recorded. No info on who it was or cause of death. Latest TV news reported 18 prisoners and 4 staff here had tested positive. Other prisons have positive tests, too. So far, the prisoners here have been cooperative and calm, grateful for the professionalism of the security staff and medical personnel, risking their own health to help us.

We watch the TV news, make phone calls and send emails to our loved ones. Not much reading material available since they closed the library and education. I get a very thin ''USA Today'' newspaper weekdays, which is eagerly awaited by some of my fellow prisoners. Libby has sent me books from a bookstore, which are much appreciated. This evening Libby and I are scheduled for a ''video visitation'' on the Jpay kiosk. Wish us luck.

I am well, and my family is well, thank God. Hopefully this pandemic with run its course soon, and we will return to some semblance of normalcy.

All the best...

Charlie

PRISON PANDEMIC UPDATE

Dateline: Friday, April 17, 2020, 11:39 a.m.

Two nurses decked out in personal protective gear are proceeding down the rows of bunks checking the temperatures of the 68 prisoners in my housing unit. So far, no one in this dorm has registered a high temperature or other symptoms of COVID-19, but that's not true elsewhere in Tomoka C. I.

Latest word is that now 10 men are in isolation after testing positive. Three prison employees, including the female kitchen manager, also tested positive. It appears that most of those infected inmates were kitchen workers.

Everyone is now locked down, confined to our housing units 24/7, no canteen, no rec, except for the dozen or so men who were drafted to work in the laundry, washing and re-washing clothing and linens now seven days a week. Cabin fever is setting in for some, but so far most everyone has stayed calm, realizing the authorities are doing the best they can, operating in uncharted territory. They've been handing out ''bag lunches'' with peanut butter sandwiches three times a day. Ugh! There is some squawking about that. Last night, they surprised us with an actual hot meal: mystery meat patty, sandwich bread, boiled pasta, lettuce, and a cookie. Better.

The TV is on, and there are a few men who stare at 1960's and '70's sitcoms most of the day, but that's not for me. The news is steady coronavirus, or the president droning on for hours about how beautiful the pandemic response is, as they juxtapose drone videos of coffins being stacked in mass graves in New York. Some of us are readers, and swap books, but the selection dwindles rapidly. I'm getting desperate--that romance novel my neighbor is reading is tempting. A few telephone home several times a day, while others, myself included, settle for less expensive emails sent via WiFi from our Jpay tablets, like this one.

Four men are playing a raucous game of Spades, which may devolve into Smackdown, yelling at each other, disturbing the TV watchers. Close quarters. Forget about social distancing--double bunks are spaced three feet apart.

Uh oh! An elderly inmate just fell out as the nurse was taking his temperature. If you must have a medical emergency, having it while being attended by two nurses is optimum. Now there are five nurses and a medical orderly with a gurney. One nurse must be senior--she took over the blood pressure equipment and is using a stethoscope. More guards showed up than medical personnel.

The old man is sitting up now. They're taking him to medical, I suppose, for observation. Cancel that--he refused treatment, said he was all right, will lie down on his bunk.

Everyone cleared out, except the two nurses conducting temp checks. Mine was 97.9 F.

I must hurry---they open the tablet charger in a few minutes, and this tablet is getting low.

You are in my prayers. Don't worry about me. I've survived worse. God bless you. Let everyone know.

Charlie

''The Guardians''---A Look at Wrongful Imprisonment.

Author John Grisham's best-selling legal thrillers have featured wrongful imprisonment before, particularly ''An Innocent Man,'' based on a real case.

I just finished reading Grisham's newest book, ''The Guardians,'' and was struck by his depiction of several cases of wrongful convictions that had strong parallels to my own forty-two years of wrongful imprisonment. These cases often involve overzealous and corrupt cops and prosecutors, perjured testimonies of convicted felons and jailhouse snitches, withheld exculpatory evidence, and immunity from prosecution for guilty parties.

If you're the least bit interested in how I got to where I am, how easy it is to be an innocent person wrongfully convicted of murder, I strongly recommend ''The Guardians,'' by John Grisham. The dedicated fictional lawyers are based on a real group, ''Centurion Ministries,''

( https://centurion.org/ ) in New Jersey, that has been responsible for scores of legal vindications.

I can only pray that my odyssey ends as positively as some of the fictional cases Grisham so expertly brings to life.

Charlie

NOTICE FROM FLORIDA DOC

"FDC Suspends Visitation at Correctional Institutions Statewide''

Officials exercise abundance of caution to protect inmates and staff from exposure to Covid--19 virus.

Tentative plans are to resume visits Sunday, April 5, 2020.