“Man Down:” Left in the Hole at San Quentin During a Coronavirus Crisis An Award-Winning Incarcerated Journalist, Now Infected and Isolated Himself, Reports on the Deadly Contagion at California’s Famous Prison
Over the past three months, Haines has provided Solitary Watch with a series of “Inside Updates” describing the conditions at San Quentin during COVID-19, which we have been publishing on social media. The writings illustrate the predictable spread of the virus at such a highly overcrowded facility, where social distancing is impossible, PPE inadequate at best, and people are shuffled from one overpopulated unit to another. The fate of those held at San Quentin was sealed in late May, when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) chose to transfer in more than 100 men from the California Institution for Men in Chino, where the virus was rampant. As of July 6, more than 1,400 individuals at San Quentin, including 165 staff, had tested positive for the coronavirus.