Filth at California Medical Facility

I arrived here at the California Medical Facility three years ago from Pelican Bay State Prison and I am astounded at what I have seen and experienced here. you would think that because this is a medical facility their standards of cleanliness would surpass the standards of any other facility. That's not so. For a hospital, this place is filthy and a breeding ground for germs and potential sickness.

Upon my arrival here at CMF I was issued a clean blanket. Three years later, I still have that same blanket. They have never offered me a chance to clean this blanket nor have they ever offered a clean blanket exchange. There is no excuse for this. It is the responsibility of the prison administration to assure that the inmates at this institution always have clean bedding. While at Pelican Bay we had blanket exchanges, dirty for clean. I have brought this issue to the attention of the prison COs, but they don't seem to care.

The handling of getting clean sheets is also a problem. We hand in our sheets on one day and get new ones two days later. I've seen sheets handed out that were ripped up so bad you can't possibly use them. I've also seen sheets so badly stained that they're not usable. When you bring this to the attention of the COs they just blow you off and tell you that's all they have, there are no extras. So you have to wait an extra week to see if you will luck out and get a decent set of sheets. My celly calls it the sheet lotto.

Never in my life have I been plagued with skin problems until I came here. I caught Staph infections three times already. This place is a breeding ground of filth and germs. I wonder what it will take to wake up the administration to the fact that this is a hospital and if nothing else, it should set an example of cleanliness and health for other prisons to follow.

- a California prisoner, May 2005