We received a letter from two inmates who saw and spoke to Sgt. deLeon on 12-24-19. The Sgt was inspecting the old shack that held the bathroom facilities for the tents erected on the Santa Maria unit around 2002-2005. When the two women asked if tent city was coming back the Sgt said “Yes.”
We are asking our readers to submit stories of their lives in Tent City.
On a similar DOC solution to overcrowding … they are allegedly filling up side rooms (called closets) to hold a total of 32 women. The DOC leaves ONE cell vacant so the 32 inmates can use the ONE toilet!
Hi , I was on Maria in the tents I believe it was 2009, it was near the end of November thru December into January. It was so cold , 10 woman to a tent . A small heater in the middle . The bathrooms were down the end by the broken down showers . We had to sleep with our clothes on and jackets too , to try and stay warm . No room for anything, it was bad .
I did time in the tents on Maria as well as manzanita lived in the kitchen on lumley and closets(side rooms) on Cruz and lumley it was brutal also was just released in Dec was on san carlos which is packed to capacity they kept adding beds everywhere in the common areas the bathroom and shower situations are a nightmare too many people not enough toilets showers washers etc the kitchen situation is unfathomable we waited in lines to eat for hours same with store, property, library.state issue its beyond cluster fuck. Horrible situation all the way around.
I lived in the tents on 2004. It was a horrible experience. It was so cold at night that women would urinate in trash cans because there was the one bathroom and it was a long walk. During the summers there was nowhere to escape the heat.
we had karaoke night , bingo night, the wellness program….. i know everyone would gather in the smoking area and watch me do this stipid little dance as i sung “my ruca” by sublime lol good times!!! Not that i am promoting any kind of time but it is not as bad in the tents as everyone tried to make it sound.