Sterling Cunio
Cunio, 43, is a 2019 recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts fellowship and a two-time PEN America Prison Writing Award winner. He is incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary where he is serving two consecutive life terms for aggravated murder and other crimes that he committed at age 16.
On April 1, Oregon health officials announced 47 new confirmed cases of coronavirus. One of them was an Oregon State Penitentiary officer who supervises the cellblock where I am housed. We were put on lockdown and isolated in our cells, as medical staff went up and down the walkways taking temperatures, asking about sore throats and dry coughs and questioning us if we’d been in contact with anyone from Japan or Korea. Quarantined for days, I took advantage of the time to read a story published by the Marshall Project, “As a mom working in a prison, I worry about bringing coronavirus home.” The story is by Cary Johnson, a correctional officer at a prison in Michigan.
Johnson writes that the prison has been fortunate enough not to have anybody test positive there, but the fear and worry she described in her institution is the same I see here. Although this is an unpopular opinion among some of my incarcerated peers, I empathize with her concerns. Johnson begins her story declaring, “It’s impossible to practice social distancing when you work in a prison.” It is also impossible to practice social distancing when youlive in a prison. As I read this story, I realized how COVID-19 reveals both our shared humanity and the systemic flaws of the institutions where more than 2 million of us live and 400,000 people, like Ms. Johnson – like the officer in my cell block who tested positive –work.
When it comes to correctional atmospheres, Oregon State Penitentiary is among the more progressive in the country. However, the building itself is among the oldest. Most prisoners are kept in multi-story cell blocks in 6-by-9-foot cells shared by two men. We eat in a 100-by-100-foot room filled with narrow rows of steel tables and attached sitting stools within two feet of each other. The shower room is a long bank of showerheads spaced three feet apart and attached to a wall. For security purposes, officers must frequently walk past cells, and be physically present in the showers and cafeteria. By design, the building forces close proximity. Here we have more than 2,000 prisoners and more than 300 employees. All of us are sitting ducks for COVID-19.
Share your opinion
Submit your essay of 500-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.
The first thing Ms. Johnson says she used to do after coming home from work was hug her 11-year-old son. Now she takes off her uniform, places it in a trash bag and takes a long shower. She is uncertain if this is effective prevention. She hasn’t received as much guidance as those who work in hospitals. She worries about getting infected while performing cell searches or stopping and frisking inmates. The threat goes both ways. Many note that COVID-19 is most likely to enter a prison through employees. I worry about elderly inmates getting infected from officers who stop and frisk them.
But I understand her fear and the concern for her family. We’re all afraid. Reading her perspectives solidified my understanding that we are all in this together. Nobody here, prisoner or employee, wants a COVID-19 outbreak. The virus doesn’t care whether we’re here for punishment or a paycheck. It doesn’t discriminate based on social status. COVID-19 is a shared threat because of our shared humanity. For the first time in 26 years of incarceration I’m witnessing staff and prisoners alike share an overarching concern while facing a mutual threat exacerbated by conditions neither can change.
But change must come. And it must come from beyond the prison and last beyond this crisis. Although COVID-19 has spotlighted the overcrowded conditions of our jails and prisons, although it has shed light on how many aging, medically vulnerable and low-risk offenders there are behind bars, these problems were here before COVID-19 and will endure beyond it. The only way to significantly reduce inevitable deaths from an outbreak inside is to reduce the number of people inside. This begins with the sick and elderly.
In these scary times, let’s strive to look beyond class, race, political affiliation, personal failings and other factors of division so that we can extend compassion and empathy to everybody throughout this crisis.
"Opinion" - Google News
April 26, 2020 at 08:02PM
https://ift.tt/2Y6dH6d
Opinion: To those behind bars or patrolling them, COVID-19 represents a shared threat - OregonLive
"Opinion" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FkSo6m
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment